The teen years are full of stressful events and feelings. School serves as a catalyst for stress; academic performance is also affected by other, unrelated stressors. While stress is good in moderation, because the emotional responses involved help get you through difficult situations; too much can be harmful to your mental and physical health. Teenagers sometimes try to do too many things at once; in doing this, many teens find that their grades suffer. Schoolwork, sports or other extracurricular actives have the potential to cause stress overload and have a lasting effect on grades.
Body Image
A negative body image can turn any situation stressful. It sometimes even leads to negative self-esteem, which means you dislike not only your body but yourself as a whole. Feeling overly self-conscious has an adverse affect on the way a teen handles social situations, which enhances the associated stress. Simply attending school becomes a chore when a teenager does not feel comfortable. The constant worry of what others think leads to an inability to focus of schoolwork, which can have a negative effect on grades.
Family
Problems at home sometimes include divorce, fighting among family members, parental alcohol abuse and the presence of mental health issues in the family. All of these factors contribute to an affected teenager's stress levels at school. Adolescents who have to deal with divorce, for example, may feel as if their parents have separated from them, because they are caught up in the divorce. This leads to heightened levels of stress, which takes a toll on the teenager's daily life.
Peers
During adolescence, peer relationships are very important. They can help teenagers as well as hurt them. Being a part of a certain group during the teenage years is vital for most adolescents to fit in. Teens who do not have friends often feel isolated, which adds to stress and interrupts normal functioning. Unhealthy peer connections also are debilitating, because they lead to impaired judgment, negative peer pressure, risky behavior and excessive stress. Skipping classes and failure to complete homework are common behaviors among teenagers with peers who do not attend school; grades then suffer.
Academic Stress
Academic stress comes from teachers, parents and other influential people in a teenager's life. It involves the pressure felt when a teenager perceives that others have high expectations about him. At times, academic stress even comes from a teen's own expectations. While positive encouragement is good, try not to criticize or expect more than your teenager is able to do; the resulting stress can lower grades and cause health problems.
Mental Health Issues
Teens who already have mental health issues are more susceptible to the negative aspects of stress. Teenagers with learning disabilities, for example, have a harder time coping with school work, because they feel inadequate when compared to other adolescents of the same age. This may lead to dropping out of school altogether. Depression also affects school-related stress. When undiagnosed or untreated, a teenager may not understand feelings of depression, which makes the associated stress even worse.
References
- John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Confronting Teen Health; 2006
- United States Department of Health and Human services: Self Image/Body
- "Ohio State University Extension"; Teens and Divorce; Jacqueline J. Kirby, et al; 2002
- University of Alabama: Your Child's Development
- Fayetteville State University; Helping Students Learn; April 2011
