Extra Credit Article

Students More Stressed Now Than During Depression?

What? This article talks about the stresses that teens are facing today that were not a factor during the days of the depression. These days, emphasis is placed on a person's success; meaning how much money they make. Education is not so much seen as a learning experience, but rather as a degree to earn you more money. Teens are stressing more about education and financial situations than ever before. This then results in more disorders such as depression and anxiety. We would like to think that financial situations do not have an impact on the lives of our teens, but it in fact does.

So What? This type of stress and anxiety is resulting in students becoming more high strung and less happy. In the article, a mother states that things were so much simplere when she was young. Girls did not have to worry about being thin or perfectionists. These drives are causing young teens to become hard on themselves which then is followed by feeling of inadaquacy and worthlessness. Disorders such as stress, anxiety, and depression will have a major impact in one's life that will not be beneficial. This type of behavior will lead to development of futre disorders which will cause individuals to be less efficient and more dependant on psycological treatment.

Now What? As a health teacher, I realize that these pressures that teens are facing are a big problem. Stadards set by other students are difficult for peers to reach which causes individuals to become stressed, anxious, or depressed. In my classroom, I will emphasize the importance of self-acceptance and doing your best. We don't need to spend all of our efforts on being perfectionists, if we do, we will stress ourselves out which will cause us to think more negatively about our abilities. It is important that we identify who we are as individuals and when we compare ourselves to others, we then start to identify our flaws. Students need to know that their teachers care about them and that we don't feelt that they should be pushing themselves to the edge in order to meet these unrealistic standards.