How Does School Affect Teens' Mental Health and Well-being

It was not long ago that the anxiety issues among adolescents were assumed to be of low impact and relatively rare. As a result of this, the present empirical knowledge about adolescent anxiety is limited and less extensive in comparison to adult psychological issues. The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in the number of adolescent studies in association with mental health and schools. There is an overlap between depression and anxiety and it especially becomes significant during the time of transition from childhood to adulthood where adolescents undergo physical and emotional changes. In a situation like this, school-related issues may easily manifest into something deeper and cause a tumultuous effect on the adolescent. The following question 'how does school affect mental health' is explored in this essay.

The recent research in the field of mental health development has led to an increase in the possibility of early identification of issues like depression and anxiety in teens. Epidemiological and longitudinal studies are at the foundation of this field. These studies showed how indications of depression increase in a linear fashion if they are left unattended. In the long term, the adolescents who are anxious are also vulnerable to being unemployed, show loss in productivity, and often require welfare assistance. As adults, they use more medical services, which increases health and insurance costs. Studies show that about 3 out of 4 children aged 3-17 years with depression also have anxiety (73.8%) and almost 1 in 2 have behavior problems (47.2%).

There is an elevated relative occurrence between anxiety and depression among teens in school. In many cases, anxiety results in the development of depressive symptoms, where the rates range up to a 50 percent increase in severity. This is a result of issues related to schools which interferes with a sizeable population of these adolescents. Thus adolescent mental disorders like anxiety and depression are often underestimated and misrepresented. Most of these studies have been taken in adult samples and it is only after 2010 that the focus has been shifted to children and adolescents. This paper aims to understand and address the mental health issues of teens in school and come up with strategies for their betterment. Since students spend so much time in school and mental health issues in teens are on the rise, schools need to prioritize their students mental well-being, normalize the conversation, have more resources and train educators on how to address and handle the issues.

Present Situation of Anxiety and Depression Rate in Education

The prevalence of anxiety and depression among adolescents ranges from 4 to 20 percent citation. The depression and anxiety affect 14.5 percent of youth between the ages of 13 years and 17 years citation. In 2017, about 8 percent of the teens in US schools suffered from a kind of diagnosed anxiety or depressive disorder, as given by the facts in the National Institute of mental health. These symptoms have been increasing since the late 1950s. The school nurse and counselors have cited that there is an increase in the amount of stress, use of social media, pressure, and familial problems that surge in anxiety levels. It has increased in the teens but also counselors and management in schools who aim to help the adolescents.

There has been a dramatic change in students over the past few decades. Initially, the schools saw a little mental health issues and lesser conflicts. With a change in the environment, there has been a change in lifestyle, and anxiety and depression among teens have become a lifestyle disease. The rise in the digital world has brought in pressure and rush among teens. They feel pressured to know the information, understand and process. In addition to the information overload, there are high expectations that surround the school going teens. These pressures can transforms into anxiety, and failure to meet those standards result in strong disappointment. The top tier schools and universities increase their selectivity and tuition fees every year. It increases its pressure to perform.

Nearly one in three adolescents from the ages of 13 to 17 years will have an anxiety disorder citation. These numbers are on the rise in a steady manner. Between the years 2009-2017, the anxiety among teens rose by 20 percent. In combination with these statistics with the number of hospital admissions for teens who are suicidal raises many concerning questions. The year 2017 also saw 47 percent more suicides among adolescents than in the year 2000. These statistics compel the researcher to look into the causes of depression and anxiety and the role that school plays in it.

The Main Causes of Anxiety and Depression Among Adolescents

The issues of anxiety and depression among teens can come from a low self-concept and presence of a feeling of low social competence. Withdrawal from these results into more isolation, that increases these symptoms. The causes of anxiety among adolescents are various but there are some major researched causes that play a crucial role in the mental and emotional well-being of them. They are discussed below:

Academic Stress: The new environment has an enormous amount of pressure to become successful academically. As the cost of college tuition rises up, parents and students rely on college scholarships to get into good schools and universities. As a result, there is tremendous pressure on the teens to score good marks and excel at all costs so it increases the amount of stress on them.

Parents: The over strictness of parents and guardians from a very young age turn the teens into someone who is socially awkward and restrictive. As a result of this factor, they develop isolation and lack the coping skills which are necessary to handle their emotions. On the other side, parents who have anxiety themselves tend to show less engagement with their children, and the children are left to deal with their emotions alone while going through a phase of physical and emotional change. In this stage, proper communication and interaction are necessary; otherwise, it leads to avoidance of issues and isolation that causes a strong sense of loneliness, which is the beginning of a cyclical fall into negative emotions.

Relationship with Peers and Teacher: The teen, who feel that they are less competent in schools in sports or academics or cultural activities, are more prone to get worried and anxious. This anxiety becomes more when there is a transition from junior to high school. They have concerns about their peers in schools and seniors in school. While they try to make friends, the sense of unfamiliarity and a fear of getting mocked at or bullying lead to anxiety. In addition to these factors, there is a question of meeting the expectations of the school. More stress is on the interpersonal relationships and social images both in and out of school.

Traumatic Experiences: At times, there are familial problems, death of a loved one, loss of a pet, accidents that lead a growing adult to become depressed or excessively anxious. Trauma may also come from a sudden divorce or separation of parents. The teen may have experienced violence or abuse that they have not been able to speak up to.

Physical and Emotional Neglect: Teens and adolescents may seem fiercely independent who wants nothing from their peers or parents but they have emotional needs that they themselves feel helpless and in some conditions, difficult to acknowledge and speak about. These issues may arise from things that they face in schools like bullying, mockery, the pressure to look good, sports and other things. Attention to these things is necessary.

Obvious Signs and Effects of Teens' Depression and Anxiety

Anxiety and depression are normal reactions to stress and adolescent emotional struggles. If not attended, they can lead to strong consequences. Depression and anxiety are tricky as they make the students act in ways that are unpredictable, and the present school faculty lacks enough training to identify the signs and symptoms of these issues and mostly disregard them as teen rebellion or undergoing a “phase.” The unpredictable behavior among teens is the beginning of anxiety and depression. One major sign to identify that the student has anxiety or depression is inconsistent with academic results. The student suffering these tends to be incredible one day and then barely able to finish the task the next day. It is a strong sign of identification of anxiety and depression. The teachers today in school mostly do not pay attention to such inconsistencies. It gets neglected on the grounds that it is a teen way of doing things.

Another sign and effect of adolescent anxiety is disengagement in the classroom. The students do not pay attention to what has been going on, avoid certain situations or events, and eventually become isolated even more. There is strong resistance to anything related to school or their fellow classmates. It leads to underachievement. These students perform low in achievement and other intelligence tests, as well.

Other signs and effects of depression and anxiety are when the teen constantly feels fear about his life. This fear may be due to a large number of reasons. The teen may wonder how his life is turning out to be. Some of these fears are rational but majority of these fears are irrational. These thoughts have a tendency to turn into chronic and cyclical, eventually interfering with their many life functions. The adolescent also has a large fear and worry in him in comparison to those by his peers and is not age-appropriate for example, for an adolescent it is irrational to fear that he will end up getting divorced too if his parents are divorced, it is irrational to worry that he will not succeed in life at all because he is from a certain background etcetera. Another major sign of teen anxiety and depression is when he avoids events and social gatherings. As the adolescent is engaged in irrational thoughts and worries he tends to miss on social gatherings. There are no one on one interactions from his side. As a result he is often away from groups. It is one of the most apparent signs of him feeling an anxiety or depression or both.

These signs are some of the initial and evident signs that the teacher or mentor can observe in the student at school. Other signs include a change in diet. A person’s emotional state is closely linked with his eating habits. It leads to the easy development of eating disorders. It is very common among teenage girls whose anxiety and depression lead to changes in their diet. They give up food or eat too much. Bulimia is one of the most common manifestations of anxiety among girls. Male show more spectrum in isolated behavior and aggression.

Other manifestations of anxiety and depression include the presence of physical symptoms like nausea, migraines, fatigue, unexpected illness and acidity. The teens with the presence of depression or anxiety will have a higher resting heart rate, higher cortisol levels and higher blood pressure than normal. They carry more tension in their physique. These physical ailments result in the student falling behind in school activities. It also causes him to miss school more often and miss out on opportunities. It is possible that the student is not aware that he may be feeling or experiencing signs of depression or anxiety; these signs are mostly inexplicable and it fears with the student’s mental stability and clarity without even him realizing it.

The next section will discuss cases of teens feeling anxiety in school and how the issue was addressed by the school. It will help in the understanding of the aspects that the school lacks in addressing anxiety among teen students and help in drafting recommendations.

Case Study Analysis: Hannah and Alex

Hannah (name changed) is a 16-year-old girl. She comes from a supportive and closed family. Her family describes to be shy and reserved for preschool. She showed nice integration when she was in Grade 5. She had friends and was academically a good performer. This performance continued until she reached Grade 9. Her performance in grade 9 was highly inconsistent. She also started complaining about stomach pains and missed more than twenty days of school in the first three months of Grade 9. The teachers approached the parents about her attendance in school but the parents told them that it was stomach pains and this issue was neglected, calling it a medical condition.

Alex (name changed) studies in Grade 8. He has been a strong member of the school baseball team. Lately, he has not been attending practices. When he does attend practices, he gets tired very quickly. He often spends time sitting on the bench observing other players. He also leaves early. The coach tried to ask him about his performance in the field and tried to boost his morale. He also tried to give him some extra time for him to improve on his performance but he found Alex to be disinterested. The coach wanting to have a better performer in the team let go off Alex from his team and it was the end of it.

These two cases might appear simpler in the first look and the steps taken by the faculty for both Alex and Hannah seemed appropriate, but there are underlying questions that were not addressed or answered here. A common question that was not answered is both Hannah and Alex were good performers and suddenly deteriorated in their performance. Both the students experienced physical ailments. These factors were ignored by their parents in the case of Hannah and by the coach in case of Alex. Sudden change in behavior comes from underlying psychological issues and these factors were neglected by both the faculty members. It puts into question how many students in the school are being ignored by psychological counseling and support due to this negligence.

In the two cases, there was a resistance observed in Hannah and Alex. Hannah refused to attend school in spite of being a regular, high achieving student, and Alex dropped off from sports he enjoyed. These two incidents for them were just seen as isolated incidents and were not compared to their past performance. The refusal in the things they both excelled that came from a deeper-rooted psychiatric issue that was not attended to by the faculty but was ignored.

An occasional absence due to genuine reason is not a cause for alarm, but then when there is a resistance presence as a continuous pattern, then there is a serious problem that needs to be revealed and addressed. It often indicates underlying anxiety and very easily turned into chronic anxiety and then becomes a cause for disappointment and depression. Hannah and Alex and many similar cases require a background history check before closing the issue to be simply due to health or other medical issues. It was necessary to intervene in the case of Hannah and Alex and similar students, and the school failed to do so.

Counterclaims and Possible Solutions

Schools may claim that there are enough resources available, and they do a lot to help teens with anxiety. In the house, counselors are available who are willing to help students cope up with their personal problems. They offer some counseling to help the students in their social skills and listening to things. They have an office on the premises which have an open-door policy and students can come anytime with their problems. They also aid students in their academic decisions and preparing them for social challenges so that they focus on their future. Since the 1990s there has been an increase in the standards-based education, and legislation like the “no child left behind” act makes it important for the school counselors to find innovative ways to approach the students.

There are many acts and rules in place, but the irony is that they are only on papers. Most students who suffer anxiety and depression also find it difficult to trust or approach a new person. Reaching out to adolescents suffering anxiety and depression is the first step that is being missed out in the majority of schools. There are some recommendations that the schools should practice so that the teens do not feel neglected. These are:

Faculty Training and Awareness: Through the research, it was observed that the faculty at school lack vigilance. They often do not notice the initial signs and symptoms of anxiety or depression. A good student turning into a student who is irregular or inconsistent in his performance is an evident sign that something is wrong. They underestimate these signs and often ignore them. It is necessary that the faculty are not negligent towards these aspects and address the student's concern. These teens need someone to reach out to them and faculty may be the first-hand observer of changes in academics or behavior or performance of students.

Training for Counseling: Having different acts in place is not enough. At present, the faculties in schools lack the tools and methods for addressing mental health issues of teens. There is a need for a training program or orientation which must be mandatory for all teachers so that they can notice and report and by extension, address the causes of concern in a student. It will address the issue of just one counselor being available in a room on the school campus. All teachers will have the training to notice changes in performance, behaviors and will be able to offer initial talk and comfort that the student needs.

Parents’ involvement: It is necessary that the faculty in schools have regular meetings with parents in general so that even they are in the loop of what is happening with the student. A comparison of personal and academic behavior will help the faculty to identify the root cause of the problem sooner. It will help to find out of the issues that the child is facing is personal or academic and intervention a happen accordingly. It will help in the identification of the problem sooner and hence, not turn issues of anxiety and depression, chronic for the teen.

Conclusion

Depression and anxiety in teens are not uncommon. The series of changes that they experience often results in them internalizing it rather than speak about it as they feel judged and embarrassed. Today, the schools are not equipped to address or even notice these concerns, let alone provide an effective solution. Policies and acts have remained in their place only for namesake, while teens in school face mental and emotional issues. Definitely, after a certain phase, the schools have a greater role in the lives of teens than the parents as they spend more time away from home. A strong collaborative effort is needed as the schools are currently not doing enough to address the issues of depression and anxiety among the students.

In the times today, anxiety and depression is not a rare occurrence but is now very common. The present empirical knowledge about adolescent anxiety is limited and still need to address these issues focussing on teen only. Research will result into steps that are focussed on school based solutions and hence will prove to be effective as they will identify and address these among the teens early on. The aim should remain to avoid issues of anxiety and depression manifest into something chronic or unmanageable. It is necessary that the teens gain confidence and not doubt for the challenges of the future.  

References

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