Why are teens seemingly more anxious now more than ever?
Anxiety continues to be the most common mental health challenge experienced by teenagers in both males and females. Clinicians and researchers can make some educated guesses about the factors that may be causing this.
One hypothesis is that this generation is experiencing overwhelming pressures to succeed. There is a social expectation that teens succeed academically, that they are involved in extra-cirriculars, and that they make some very important decisions at this age that can determine their future. This can have a debilitating impact on those teens who already have perfectionistic qualities and for those that fear failure.
Anxiety & Technology
Another hypothesis of what contributes to anxiety in teens in this generation is that they are constantly connected to the world through technology and not able to escape. Technology keeps us constantly connected to our friends and school which can be positive, but this also means we never get a break and space for ourselves away from the pressures these things also come with.
Additionally, technology can serve as a way to avoid experiencing emotions. We never have to experience negative emotions such as loneliness or sadness if we always have a way to distract ourselves. If we are using technology to distract ourselves from our negative emotions more often than not, we don’t develop the skills of being able to sit with, be in, and tolerate that difficult feeling. We can feel less able to cope and more anxious as a result.
Why teenagers?
Researchers and clinicians also find themselves asking the question, why does anxiety tend to emerge in adolescence? We know that during adolescence there are body changes occurring, and there is a social transition occurring as we move from childhood to adulthood. All of which is stressful.
Social anxiety is the most common type of anxiety for teens under the umbrella of anxiety disorders. We know that some of the first feelings of social anxiety emerge in adolescence. There are social and emotional changes that occur as a part of teenage development where we first start to feel self awareness; and therefore self confidence (or lack of self confidence) at this age which play a huge part in the experience of social anxiety.
Our parents might tell us, “times weren’t that easy in our day either”.
We know that mental health is certainly more talked about now than it every has been. It’s hard to tell if teens really are more anxious now, or if there is the phenomenon of reporting bias occurring. Meaning, it could be that anxiety was underreported in the past and now more individuals feel comfortable disclosing their anxiety.