Teens Are Stressing More Than Adults

Teens may be just as stressed out as their parents, and at handling it worse, according to a new survey out from the American Psychological Association (APA).

The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive, Inc. on behalf of the APA's annual collection of stress-related data, "Stress in America." The survey questioned  1950 adults older than 18, and 1018 teens 13 to 17 years old.

What was found was that average reported stress level for teens in school, 5.8, is far above what the APA deems healthy, 3.9 out of a 10 point scale. Working adults reported a slightly smaller number, 5.1, which still falls higher than the recommended managed stress level of 4.6.

More alarmingly, 31 percent of teens reported feeling overwhelmed by their stress at times. A similar percentage of teens reported feeling depressed, with a quarter of the teens interviewed claiming that sometimes they would even skip a meal due to oppressive feelings of stress.

According to the survey, even while these numbers are alarmingly high among teens, over half of the  same teen participants also reported experiencing no noticeable or only slight effects from stress on their body or mental health. This could mean that teen stress levels are actually much lower than reported, explaining for the lack of impact.

But according to the APA, this could also just show how little teens understand about how frequent stress impact's their body. Nearly 40 percent of the teens interviewed reported feeling exhausted and/or having a lack of appetite at least once weekly. According to the APA, these are common signs of increased stress levels influencing behavior.

So what can they do? According to the APA, teens need to learn how to better manage their stress and acknowledge when it has become detrimental. Healthy habits like eating right, sleeping 8 to 9 hours a day, and exercising all result in reduced stress levels.

However, increased levels stress makes it harder to many of these things in the first place because of exhaustion or lack of appetite, proving that preventive action should be taken in one's life even before stress is felt.

This is where parents come in, according to a statement by APA CEO and Executive Vice President Norman B. Anderson, PhD, in a recent press release.

"Parents and other adults can play a critical role in helping teens get a handle on stress by modeling healthy stress management behaviors," says Anderson. "When spending time with teens, we can encourage them to exercise, eat well, get the sleep they need and seek support from health care professionals like psychologists to help them develop healthier coping mechanisms for stress sooner rather than later."

The survey, "Stress in America" was published by the American Psychological Association on February 11.