Teens VS Adults: Who is more stressed?

Many teens in the United States deal with a significant amount of stress when it comes to school. After all, not many teens have the money to pay for their college or get help from their parents. Because of this teenagers have to work harder to get themselves in college, but some without knowing take loans which will increase in debt. A major issue for teens is wanting to succeed but, if they fail it becomes an issue that will eventually set them back as many of them tend to have parents who pressure their children to succeed. Schools tend to have a system where they show your place in your class. Some are even taking Advanced placement classes to end up having a boost in their grade. School can either be the greatest moment of your life or one of the worst. By the worse, I mean friends telling you to vape, drink, the pressure to change or your grades being bad because you can’t comprehend the work. Many are stressed because they have no certainty about the future. At times, teens are pressured to know what they want to do or where they want to go and how long they’re willing to stay in school. With teens who for sure know they don’t want to go to college or no that can’t afford it and others that have families who own businesses can be concerned about what college will eventually do for them as long as that isn’t involved. Not only is high school stressful but, the Scholastic Aptitude Test and American College testing are expensive and that’s not including if you decide to pay for the AP test. Fee waivers are still a lot of money for low-income families. Students shouldn’t have to be stressed, what can we do to change it? 

  Yes, I understand us teens don’t have the same stress as adults do. You have to deal with caring for children if you any. As well, having to pay bills, where you don’t know if you have enough money for the rent, or there’s no food in the refrigerator, and if you’re willing money to put into your child’s future. If you have kids, you have to deal with the nonsense drama that happens when your child goes through puberty. Dealing with all the back talking and the emotional times we start to cry. Not having enough money for yourself or your children. Most of all having to work eight hours or up to forty-eight hours, and to the parent or adults that have to experience chronic illness. American Psychological Association reported that “About two-thirds of respondents said they’ve been diagnosed by a physician with a chronic condition, most commonly high blood pressure or high cholesterol”. Any parents that have to deal with chronic illnesses tend to have a harder time when it comes to working or having enough time to pay attention to their children. Parents have it hard enough mostly when being an immigrant and not understanding your child’s homework or how to help them because you were taught differently. The hardest psychological part is having to learn a new way of discipline, after all, you were disciplined a certain way and you turned out fine. A major fear for immigrant parents is when not having a green card you have a harder time finding a job because you might get deported. Parents have to provide for their children. The older a child gets the harder it is to provide for them because they need to get the school supplies like graphing calculators which are very expensive and sometimes laptops depending on the school. Unless your area has a public library with computers. Once, your child graduates you need to pay for the cap, gown, and pictures. Parents have a lot to deal with. They take care of their child’s needs with overworking and the older a parent gets still develop many issues like menopause and chronic pain.                                      

   As a teen myself, I can relate to the topic in high school. Many teens are taking five or six AP classes so their grades go up but they don’t realize the more AP classes you have the more stress will be added into your life. Personally, I can agree parents have a lot of stress because it would be hard for anyone to maintain a child. Most teens that come from a low-income family like myself can agree that they are stressed for their future. Because they know their parents work hard but, colleges are at times too expensive. Being a teen who is unknown to the future that will come, I tried to work as hard as I can my future. Some teens don’t know that they should have volunteer hours or be part of clubs. Teens with many AP classes are stressed about studying and don’t have time for volunteering or clubs. A study done by the American Psychological Association on stress in America provides information on “Children were more likely to report that they worry about things related to school than parents perceived. Forty‐ four percent of all children ages 8 – 17 reported that doing well in school was a source of worry compared to only 34 percent of parents reporting this as a source of stress for their child”.  At times it can be difficult for parents to know about why their child might stress. Many teens don’t tell their parents what they feel which ends up causing miscommunication. Research done by NPR Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/ Harvard School of Public Health informs on surveys done, ” One or more cause a lot of stress including homework, pressure to excel academically 42% said it caused a little and with homework, there was 43% that caused a little stress”.  As said, before many students tend to be pressured to take AP classes and test to look better for colleges but, at times that pressure is a bit too much depending on how many classes might have including the homework we are given. Our stress does not compare to the stress that parents deal with, but yes we teens are stressed even if we don’t act like it or talk about how stressed out we are with our classes and our future college.

   To keep teens less stressed and for parents to not be completely stressed for their children, I’ve created a couple of solutions. Any of us in the US have issues with stress in school. Not all of us benefit from our college has to be paid for and receive help. For this reason, we normally have to work harder to get ourselves in college. The way we can find a solution is either by the time you have a child a percentage is taken from your taxes to go for your child’s future where they can only take it out for college or Vocational School once they are 18.No the money will not be taken from you taxes but, the ones that the government already does to which would cut them in half for the government and the other for your child. If your child ends up not going to college the money can be put into the parent’s retirement plan. Another solution is for the high school to help teens find a job so they can save up money for any resources they might need.