Teens feeling stressed, and many not managing it well

USA Today:

Teens across the USA are feeling high levels of stress that they say negatively affect every aspect of their lives, a new national survey suggests.

More than a quarter (27%) say they experience “extreme stress” during the school year, vs. 13% in the summer. And 34% expect stress to increase in the coming year.

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In addition, a study about depression published in 2012 in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, found that rates of suicide attempts were significantly higher in adolescents ages 13-17 than in emerging adults (ages 18-23) or adults (24-30).

Kristen Race, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., author of the book Mindful Parenting, out in January, says teens are generally honest about responding to confidential surveys.

“They’re more honest in that situation than telling their parents how stressed they are,” she says. “When teens report their own level of stress, it is typically much higher than parents would report of their teen’s level of stress.”

Anderson says the survey did find enough subtlety to satisfy skeptics.

“While one might argue it’s very easy to say everything is affected by stress, what’s interesting is they’re not doing that,” he says. “They’re differentiating between the things they believe are negatively impacted by stress vs. others. Only 10% believe lower grades are due to stress. They seem to be very nuanced in their attributions of what stress does.”

Read the whole story: USA Today