Anxiety Rapidly Rising in Teens: A Proposal for Change
By: Haley Rasmussen
Tags: Teens, Anxiety, High School, College, Education

Picture yourself being back in your prime years of your high school experience. Maybe you’re as young as 13 or maybe you’re already 17 years old reaching the peak of your high school years. Yet, the reality is you are a teen trying to survive the height of your academic career. Your days consist of school, homework, extra curricular activities, and a lot of studying. Your days of playing board games and venturing outdoors with your friends are over. While you may still be a child, your childhood has come to an end with the increased responsibilities that come with a higher education. You spend all your time trying to be the best student you can be all while juggling work, sports, other activities, and your own personal life. But you’re living in a world where grades define you and test scores determine your future. After a long day of school there is no longer any time to play. You lock yourself in your room with a bed full of books. Instead of being able to relax from a long day you spend long hours studying till your eyes become so heavy you can no longer stay awake. You wake up the next morning feeling exhausted and overworked, but you drag yourself out of bed because there is a test you feel you must ace. You’re sitting in class with a million thoughts running through your head, “if I don’t pass my grade won’t be an A and if I don’t have an A then my gpa will drop and if my gpa drops then I won’t be good enough to get into the college I want to go to.” The stresses and worries overcome you. Your hands begin to shake and your palms begin to sweat. The weight of your responsibilities becomes so heavy that it sits on your shoulders, within an instant it falls through your shoulders like a brick to the pit of your stomach. It passes through your chest which leaves a clenching tightness around your heart that makes it hard to catch your breath. A few more seconds and you feel as if you can’t breathe. The tears rush to your eyes. You began to panic. Your tears run down your cheek falling slowly from your skin to the page of your test. None of the information you studied comes to mind. You can’t even think straight. Before you can even pick up your pencil to begin the test is over.

The image provided is the unfortunate reality that many of today’s adolescents face. This image of a panic attack is one of the many unfortunate occurrences that are taking place as a result of the rapidly increasing anxiety in today’s youth. Based on a study done by the National Institute of Health 1 in 3 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 will experience some sort of anxiety disorder. These numbers of adolescents developing anxiety disorders have been rising steadily since 2007. (McCarthy). This steady increase in the development of anxiety disorders in today’s adolescents has become a direct result of factors that cause anxiety. With a constantly changing world there hasn’t been a moment to stop and consider these shocking statistics. There is now more than ever a need for a call to action to decrease the development of anxiety disorders from occurring in adolescents.

Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry or apprehension about everyday situations or what is to come for the future. The feeling of fear one may have causes anxiety as a “expected response to a real or potential danger” (Shri). Ultimately what one has seen or experienced previously becomes associated with future similar situations. As a result, as soon as a teen becomes anxious about one event; the next time something similar occurs it causes the same anxiety to develop as a response to their fear associated with the previous occurrence. Anxiety can take place in normal daily, life situations. It also can become excessive to the point where it is all consuming and interferes with daily living as a fear develops so strongly towards certain situations.

Anxiety typically develops from multiple factors including, but not limited to high expectations placed on the teen by their parents, teachers, peers, and themselves along with the pressures to succeed in school and on standardized tests. A survey showed that 70% of teens believed anxiety and depression are a major problem amongst their generation (Flannery). The causes of this problem stems directly from the teen’s personal and student life. By the time adolescents make it to high school and college the pressures they’ve experienced throughout life catch up to them. The increased pressures that they will endure in high school and college ultimately tip the iceberg leaving adolescents on a path of anxiety unable to juggle all the things on their plate while still remaining academically successful.

Students nowadays face the harsh reality of high expectations to succeed placed on them by their parents, teachers, peers, and themselves. High expectations stem from academic success and standardized testing. Today’s generation of youth has a culture of achievement and a feeling of pressure to succeed that generations before had never experienced or felt. Pressures placed on youth by their parents, teachers, and peers’ achievements have led them to increase the pressure on themselves as they want to be more successful than previous generations. These pressures lead to adolescents feeling overwhelmed. In a research study college freshmen were asked if they felt overwhelmed by all the things on their plate and the responses recorded were, “in 2016, 41% of students said “yes” compared with 28% in 2000 and 18% in 1985” (McCarthy). The amount of activities along with coursework students have as a responsibility has left them with an overwhelming feeling of pressure to get it all done. In feeling overwhelmed this leads to anxiety as what they have on their plate becomes too much to handle mentally. The stresses and worries that occur as a result of the numerous responsibilities adolescents have, ultimately cause anxiety to develop in teens. Even school counselors have seen that there is so much going on in this day and age that teens have this increased pressure to achieve that never existed before (Flannery).

Standardized testing has also become another factor of high expectations that is a driving force for the development of anxiety disorders in teens. Numerical values are a defining factor in adolescents’ futures. Standardized tests are what get a student into college these days. If an adolescent chooses to seek a higher education after high school they must succeed on their standardized tests in order to do so. Rather than looking specifically at the student themselves a number taken from a standardized test is used to define them. The pressure to succeed on such tests comes from the idea that if they fail the test they will not be able to flourish in their futures as standardized test are a large portion of the college application process. The pressure to do well on the test causes test anxiety to occur in youth. Also the fear of failure on such tests cause other forms of general anxiety as the youth feel that to succeed they must perform well on a test which puts a damper on their self esteem.

Not only is there a pressure to succeed on standardized tests; there is a pressure to succeed in school. Anxiety rates have dramatically increased in high school and college students. Students experience high stress from too much homework. Students also feel the need to succeed on tests in school and maintain high grade levels. The pressure to succeed in school is placed on them by their parents and teachers. Helicopter parenting that may take place in the younger years before a child becomes an adolescent can cause an increase in stress that can develop into anxiety when the adolescent is set free on their own in their later years of high school and college. Teachers in school can give a lot of homework to their students and tests can be worth large portions of the students grade. These factors weigh heavy on the student and as a result they put a great pressure on themselves to succeed. This ultimately backfires as the workload becomes too much. Students can begin to stress and worry ultimately leading them on a path of test anxiety and anxiety developed from school (Heitler).

Pressure from these high expectations to be successful on these tests have led to test anxiety that causes poor performance. Adolescents that take these tests develop a fear of negative evaluation post examination. Since high pressures placed on adolescents lead to anxiety; more specifically test anxiety can develop. Test anxiety comes from the pressures placed on succeeding on standardized tests and other school related tests. Test anxiety can potentially be serious when it leads to high levels of distress and academic failure. This development of increased test anxiety seen in adolescents is a result of a more prominent role of tests in the education system in comparison to previous years. With test anxiety there is a fear of failing and a fear of negative consequences if they fail. This fear is directly related to the pressure they feel to succeed. The worry that they experience reflects the debilitating thoughts and concerns one will experience before and during the test. These feelings ultimately affect the academic performance of the test taker (Karatas). Test anxiety related behavior tend to occur when a person begins to think that his or her intellectual and social capabilities are affected by the test situation itself (Ergene). This means that the high pressures an adolescent may feel leads them to think these thoughts and it further affects their performance in the testing situation.

The numbers of adolescents developing anxiety disorders must stop rising. Our youth needs to be saved from this national problem that is affecting high school and college students greatly. Levels of anxiety are higher now than they’ve ever been before. Previous generations have never seen or experienced anxiety disorders as bad as they are now. The causes are known, but there needs to be prevention. Anxiety disorders can lead to severe consequences such as: depression, insomnia, suicidal thoughts, and panic attacks. Anxiety disorder leads to these other severe disorders that ultimately take a harsh toll on the body. If anxiety levels continue to rise there will be a direct correlation with depression, insomnia, and suicide rates also increasing. With anxiety the body physically has to overwork itself to make up for the anxiousness that one is experiencing. As this occurs one can begin to lose motivation in their daily activities. This change in mood and loss of motivation is how anxiety branches into other disorders as it affects the body physically and mentally. With anxiety linked to other severe disorders there is a call to action to prevent these rising levels from rising anymore.

The call to action can be seen for the need of a prevention for anxiety in adolescents. The amount of adolescents that are experiencing anxiety disorders have increased in the years and it needs to be put to a stop. The task of going about preventing anxiety in adolescents in their personal life and school life seems to be an arduous task, but with a detailed plan and with the help of the education system it can be done. My proposal to the department of education is to require a mandatory educational program in schools for both students and faculty that educates on the causes, affects, and preventions of anxiety disorders.

The education system provides many resources for students. Resources provided by the education system are sometimes resources that students cannot get from home. An education system not only provides an education to a student, but it provides a foundation for that student’s future life. An Educational program on anxiety disorders needs to be implemented in schools. In this educational program both the student and the teacher will be educated on the causes, affects, and preventions of anxiety disorders. If both the student and the teacher understand the main factors that cause anxiety; they will be able to notice when and if someone is developing anxious tendencies. If they are able to see if someone is developing anxious tendencies before it develops into an anxiety disorder they can easily implement preventions so that person’s anxiety does not worsen. By also educating both the students and faculty on the effects of anxiety disorders they will understand the severity of this mental illness rather than believing anxiety is simply an emotion a part of regular life. If students learn about anxiety disorders through an educational program implemented in schools they can take what they learn and implement it into their own personal lives to prevent anxiety that may occur outside of school. With an educational program like this adolescents will be able to cope with anxiety and even stop it from occurring during their youth and for their future to come. In this educational program students can be taught about deep breathing exercises that can help reduce the panic that comes along with anxiety. Students can also be taught about positive self-talk as a way to increase their self-confidence. Furthermore students can be taught about healthy nutrition and the importance of sleep as these things can help reduce stress and by reducing stress anxiety can be prevented (Flannery). These techniques that will be introduced through this educational program can be used in the school environment or taken home into their personal lives to set them up for anxiety free success in their present and for their future.

In regards to anxiety that takes place in the school environment as a result of the high expectation students may feel; this educational program can implement activities and exercises that can reduce the anxious feelings a student can feel in the school environment. It has been seen that test anxiety has become a prominent issue for students. This test anxiety and general anxiety that can develop in the school environment ultimately take a toll on students’ academic performance. A new study showed that a 10 minute writing exercise before a test can help students reduce the stress and anxiety they feel before taking the test. Students write about their thoughts and feelings. Students also complete a stress reappraisal as a way to assess the effects of stress. These types of writing exercises before a test were seen to boost student’s academic achievement (Terada). With the use of pre-exam coping strategies students were able to successfully respond to school challenges. Levels of worry for students decrease with pre-exam coping strategies and ultimately lead to a performance that is stronger when they are able to successfully respond to an academic challenge (Putwain). By implementing this educational program into schools they can introduce techniques like this to help students reduce their anxiety.

While this proposal is ideally beneficial and feasible all may not see it that way. Most people today have either experienced a mental illness, know someone who has, or have some sort of understanding as to what mental illness is. Yet, there are still people out there that do not believe mental illness is a real issue. When they here the term anxiety they think that people are overreacting to the stresses and worries that are apart of life. When in all actuality they don’t understand it because they have yet to have an experience with it or be educated on what it is. By instituting a mandatory educational program everyone will be able to be educated in some way. Even the smallest amount of education about anxiety can make the largest difference. While there are some people out there that still don’t see anxiety as a real issue a majority of the country’s people do. It has also been statistically shown that there is a rising of anxiety rates in adolescents which is why this educational program is the best option for preventing these rates from rising any higher than they already have.

Anxiety disorders must be prevented in adolescents before the levels have the chance to rise anymore they have already in recent years. Anxiety disorders can lead to a number of other severe disorders including: depression, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts. The proposal for action is to implement an educational program into schools that educates both students and faculty on the causes, affects, and prevention of anxiety disorders. With the proposal as follows more people than ever will be educated on this mental illness. The amount of adolescents that experience anxiety disorders will decrease and there will be a prevention for the occurrence of anxiety disorders for future generations. With a program like this our country will be able to tackle the problem of anxiety in both the classroom and the adolescent’s personal life.

Works Cited

Ergene, Tuncay. Effective Interventions on Test Anxiety Reduction. Vol. 24, no. 3, 2003, DOI:10.1177/01430343030243004. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020. This journal discusses methods of test anxiety reduction programs which can be a main focus for this proposal argument. The journal also discusses the severity of test anxiety in students and how it affects student’s performance. The author writes for the School of Psychology which is a good source as psychologists understand anxiety very well from an educated standpoint. This journal was very detailed and provided an interesting perspective to the topic of test anxiety.

Flannery, Mary. “The Epidemic of Anxiety Among Today’s Students.” National education Association, 28 Mar. 2018, www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/epidemic-anxiety-among-todays-students. Accessed 8 Nov. 2020. The article discusses how the anxiety in students in this generation is worsening. This article would be a good way to show the precedent for change needed in the school system. The idea that anxiety is worsening is the call to action for proposing a change in test assessments.

Heitler, Susan. “High School and College Student Anxiety: Why the Epidemic?” Psychology Today, 21 June 2018, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resolution-not-conflict/201806/high-school-and-college-student-anxiety-why-the-epidemic. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020. In this article a resolution to the rising rates of anxiety in high school and college students are looked at. While this article does address other points in regards to anxiety it does have a focus on anxiety in students which can be helpful for this proposal. Author Susan Heitler has her PhD and is a clinical psychologist which is a great perspective to see from. In this article other sources regarding anxiety are also linked which will be helpful.

Karatas, Hakan. “Correlation among high school senior students’ test anxiety, academic performance and points of university entrance exam.” Academic Journals, vol. 8, no. 13, 2013, DOI:10.5897/ERR2013.1462. Accessed 8 Nov. 2020. This journal focuses on the correlation between high school senior’s test anxiety and academic performance. This journal would be a way to show the proof of how test assessments correlate to anxiety in students. This would be the call to action for the proposal argument. The authors are a reliable source as they write education research and reviews.

McCarthy, Claire. “Anxiety in Teens is Rising: What’s Going On?” Healthy children.org, 20 Nov. 2019, www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/emotional-problems/Pages/Anxiety-Disorders.aspx. Accessed 23 Nov. 2020. This article shows the causes for anxiety rising in the adolescent population. It provides statistics on the increase of anxiety in youth which supports the rise that has been seen over the last years. The article is suitable for showing a call to action for this proposal as levels of anxiety in teens are steadily rising.

Putwain, David W., et al. “‘’Sink or Swim’: Buoyancy and Coping in the Cognitive Test Anxiety — Academic Performance Relationship.’” Educational Psychology, vol. 36, no. 10, 16 July 2015, pp. 1807–25, DOI:10.1080/01443410.2015.1066493. Accessed 8 Nov. 2020. This journal discusses the cognitive test anxiety and its relationship to student’s responses to school challenges. This journal assesses coping mechanisms for test anxiety in students. This would be a good way to contribute to ideas for proposing to fix the flawed education system. The authors discuss these ideas clearly and give an interesting perspective to the coping mechanisms.

Shri, Richa. “Anxiety: Causes and Management.” The Journal of Behavioral Science, vol. 5, no. 1, 2010, so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/IJBS/article/view/2205/1843. Accessed 23 Nov. 2020. This journal discusses the causes and management of anxiety disorders. It shows and explains the common effects and causes of anxiety. It also clearly assesses what anxiety really is. This journal also shows the severity of how anxiety affects a large amount of the world population.

Terada, Youki. “Helping Students Beat Test Anxiety.” Edutopia, 29 Mar. 2019, www.edutopia.org/article/helping-students-beat-test-anxiety. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020. The article addresses one idea of how students can overcome test anxiety through seeing the stress as a boost not a burden for them. The article points out a main result of test anxiety is continued poor performance. The writing exercise can be a proposed solution to help improve students anxiety in school as a direct result of test assessments. Author Youki Terada links multiple other sources regarding this issue that does include research which is why this would be a good source for this proposal argument. It was very interesting to see how writing before a test helped boost the student’s achievements.