Teens Grapple with Stress & Uncertainty – Community Support Network of Nevada County

How parents can provide stability as teens grapple with stress and uncertainty

My 15-year-old daughter spent part of her winter break studying for final exams, as her semester concludes the third week of January. She gave herself one week of complete relaxation before she begrudgingly opened the biology book and began sketch-noting a few chapters. It wasn’t much of a break.

Not only that, she returned to school just as the omicron surge began to take off in Los Angeles. Armed with a KN95 mask on her face and all the good-smelling hand sanitizer Bath & Body Works has to offer stashed in her backpack, she put on her brave face and returned to school. Three days in, she commented that school feels like an endless game of covid musical chairs, with a couple of students disappearing each day. And then came the substitute teachers.

You might think that finals would be replaced with other lower-stakes projects that can measure mastery without the stress of memorization, but that’s not the case. For my daughter’s school and many others, the show must go on.

In my private therapy practice, teens and younger students echo my daughter’s experiences. Despite a revolving door of cases and exposures among students and staff, tests and assessments continue as planned. Even middle school students feel the additional stress of tests every week that require studying beyond their regular homework.

Despite the Surgeon General’s advisory about the current state of youth mental health across the United States, including the fact that 1 in 3 high school students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, we expect our youth to trudge forward as if nothing is wrong.

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