THE STRESS OF A STUDENT

As I type the beginning of this article, I’m also thinking about the rest of my homework that still needs to get done. I’m thinking about the pile of laundry in my room waiting to be washed. I’m thinking about what I need to get done before I go to work.

At one time, I am thinking about everything that I need to accomplish, and it is really stressing me out.

As a high school student, I know that I am not alone when I say that school can become very stressful and hard to handle. Some people can manage the pressure perfectly fine; it may even make them stronger. For other people, though, the stress can make them feel like they’re being suffocated by their own life.

All people have ascribed roles, or life statuses that they are born with, such as sister or son. On the other hand, they also have achieved roles, or life statuses that they earn over time, such as student or employee.

Whether it is an ascribed role or an achieved role, it comes with a set of role expectations. When two role expectations interfere, there becomes a role conflict. Most students feel stress simply because they have too many role expectations and conflicts restricting their life.

“Students stress because they’re trying to juggle so many different aspects of their life,” said Robert McCreary, a sociology teacher at North Penn. McCreary studied both sociology and psychology in college, and learned a lot about stress when he was studying sports psychology.

Meet Elizabeth Jebran. She is an eleventh grader here at North Penn High School. Jebran is well known throughout the school simply because she is involved in a number of activities. From the play to women’s and chamber choir to National Honor Society to Key Club, she’s always trying to fulfill her role expectations for these activities whether it be rehearsing or just showing up to meetings. On top of it all, Jebran’s also handling a junior’s course load, which most people know as to be very grueling.

“I feel stressed all the time,” said Jebran “and schoolwork does nothing, but add on to [the stress].”

Elizabeth Jebran is a prime example of how achieved roles can conflict with one another, causing an immense amount of stress. Jebran is not alone in her struggle with stress, for there are a great number of high school students feeling the same way.

According to a 2013 study by the American Psychological Association, stress is extremely common among teenagers. In fact, teens themselves have said that they believe they are experiencing an unhealthy level of stress, with it increasing during the school year.

When starting a new school year, it’s common for teens to set goals for themselves, whether it be receiving all A’s, keeping up with all the homework, or taking active notes all year. But, as the school year goes on, if the student is unable to meet his or her own, personal expectations that is when the stress kicks in.

If they miss an A in the third marking period for a subject, then they can no longer exempt that final. If they miss one or two homework papers, then they’re missing out on easy points. If they don’t take active notes one day, then they fail a section of the test.

North Penn junior Alex Van knows what it is like to stress about the little things in school.  “I want everything to be perfect so, I dwell on stuff that I do not do well on,” he said.

Van shows how even the simplest of goals can creep inside the minds of students and just control their thoughts for they believe that they are a failure and just aren’t good enough.

THE COMMON STRESSORS

It seems so obvious that school is a common stressor among teens, but there are more stressors that are increasingly becoming more of a problem. On teenhelp.com, under the category of Teen Stress Statistics, there is a list of the top five stressors among teens: 78% of teens deemed schoolwork as a stressor, 68% said parents, 64% said romantic relationships, 64% said friends’ problems, and 64% said younger siblings.

At some point in their life every teen has heard their parents say something like “are your chores done?” or “how did you do on that history test today?” As a student, when you’re already stressed out about school, hearing your parents belabor these points adds on to your stress especially if you feel like you cannot live up to their expectations.

When it comes to relationships, the level of your stress usually lies with the other person. Because you care so much about that other person, you tend to worry about their feelings sometimes before your own. If they are not happy, then you feel as if you gain the responsibility to make them happy.

Friendship is another form of relationship, so the stressors are similar. You’re constantly worrying about how the other person feels. If something goes wrong with them, then you feel responsible to help them out.

Younger siblings are yet another person in your life that you feel responsible for, but they are stressful. They look up to you because you get to have more experiences, and you do not want to be the one to mess up in front of them.

Basically, teens are seemingly always trying to please a person in their life; sometimes this person could be their own self too. A good amount of stress comes from within your own head because you allow a little stressor to manipulate your thoughts.

If teens would lower some of the expectations that they think they have from other people and themselves than they could easily reduce some of their stress. Teens can become so overwhelmed with the stress that they lose sight of the real problems that the stress is causing.

Of course, there are a lot of effects that stress has on students in school. A basic one is simply that they fail to do their homework, which can lead to a lack of understanding of the current content. Then, when it comes to tests, they’re out of luck because they just don’t understand.

STRESS AND YOUR HEALTH

Then, there are the health related effects of stress. Lack of sleep is a big effect because ultimately, if you’re not well rested, then it is going to seem as if the day is going in slow motion. The stress can build up so much that it can take a huge toll on emotions as well. From frustrated to angry to sad, stress can bring out the worst in people.

But, they’re nothing compared to the more serious effects that stress brings on, such as anxiety, high blood pressure, or a weakened immune system. All of these can in fact lead to a student becoming depressed or even suicidal.

There’s so many side effects of stress that just make handling it feel impossible. However, the important thing to know is that whatever the problem is, there is always a plausible solution.

“When I work with students we create a list of ideas to figure out where the stress seems to be coming from,” said Dr. Nicole Yetter, guidance counselor at North Penn High School. “We break it down and say ‘what do I need to focus on from here’ It’s about figuring out what I have control over and what I don’t.”

One of the most, if not the most important thing that you can do to handle stress is take time to think things through by yourself. This can be done while doing something as simple as reading a book, listening to music, or taking a walk.

Though taking time for you is an effective solution, it is also important to talk out the problem with someone else. Talking things out is one of the best ways to fix the problem because it shows you that other people are willing to listen, to help, and to work things out with you.

Van said he leans on his friends whenever he gets stressed out because they are ultimately one of the best support groups in his life.

Sometimes talking can not only help you, but also the other person because they could be going through a similar situation.

“I lean on people that also do the same activities and are under the same stress that I am,” said  Jebran “I know that we are able to get through it together.”

The most important thing is to just get your mind off of the situation that is showing to be very stressful. The worst thing to do is nothing and allow for it all to bottle up.

Overall, life can stressful for a high school student. There’s always someone who they want to impress, but it’s important to know that it does not change throughout life. So, it’s crucial to figure out how to handle it now to avoid long term effects for the future. Students need to not let stressors control their life because then, when life gets them down, they will never be able to get back up.