Adolescents and Stress

Summary of “Adolescents Coping with Stress: Development and Diversity”

The purpose of the article “Adolescents Coping with Stress: Development and Diversity” is to explore the common stressors in the lives of adolescents and the coping mechanisms often used to deal with these stressors. The authors start by explaining that around 25% of adolescents go through one life-altering event. Even further, many adolescents will face continual stressors related to both school and relationships.

The outcome of stressful experiences in the lives of adolescents depends on their ability to cope with the events appropriately. The failure to do so can lead to behavioral and mental health issues. Some mental health issues can further lead to physical problems. However, the authors state that coping with stress does not always result in negative outcomes, but positive outcomes are equally present. The coping strategies used are often linked to whether the adolescent views the stressor as a loss, threat, or challenge and the controllability of the situation. The authors claim that adolescence is important in the discovery of self and learning coping skills, but also a stressful time.

Next the authors lead us through the different coping responses often seen in adolescence, which are grouped as approach oriented, minimization, dependence on others, and helplessness. The authors go further to group coping responses into a dozen families, which lead to varied coping abilities. It is important to the mental health and development of adolescents to explore various coping strategies. However, most adolescents only rely on support seeking, problem-solving, and distraction to cope with stressful events in their lives.

Next, the authors explore how coping strategies differ between the genders of the adolescents. Although girls are faced with more stressors, they develop better coping skills than boys. However, girls’ coping skills are more internalized and have more of an impact on their mental well-being. Boys tend to keep themselves distracted in order to cope with the stressors in their lives.

Finally, the authors address the connection between coping responses in adolescents and poverty. Their findings show that adolescents living in poverty tend to face more uncontrollable stressors on a continual basis. This causes them to lack the ability to cope with the stressors before another problem arises. Therefore, these adolescents may have difficulty developing coping skills and may be under a tremendous amount of stress. The problem is even more compacted when the adolescent is a minority living in poverty.

Personal Reaction to “Adolescents Coping with Stress: Development and Diversity”

The article did not go over specific teaching strategies used when dealing with stressors or teaching coping strategies to adolescents. However, I do feel the article is beneficial and should be read by teachers going into the field. It is important to understand how students deal with stress and important to remember how their ability to deal with stress differs from that of an adult.

As a future educator, I should be aware of possible adolescent stressors, and I should be able to direct them to someone that may help them cope with stressful situations if I am unable to do so. Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner did state that adolescents often go to their peers for support, but are unable to get the support they need due to their peers lack of coping skill development. Therefore, many of the students may seek an adult to help them during stressful times. In the classroom, I hope the students feel that I am someone they can trust. If so, my students may come to me to seek guidance or advice. If I feel uncomfortable in such situations, I need to know where to send them for the support they need.

Furthermore, the article has the families of coping in a table, which I find to be a useful tool that educators could use to help identify at risk students. The table lists the type of coping family such as problem solving, escape, submission, social isolation, etc. It also lists the examples of coping, functions in adaptive processes, and the related behaviors. Most of the related behaviors are visible to anyone who may be in contact with the student. Being able to identify the related behaviors can also help me to understand the student is not being personal. The adolescent may just lack the coping skills needed to deal with the stressful situation they have found themselves in. Overall, I feel the article has helped me to understand how insignificant some event may be to me, it may cause a great deal of stress in the life of an adolescent.

References

Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Skinner, E. A. (2008). Adolescents Coping with Stress: Development and Diversity. The Prevention Researcher, 15(4), 3-7.

Pauline

We ordinarily think about special schools as having particular value for students with acting-out behavior. Special classes and special schools, however, also provide environments where students with internalizing disorders feel safe and can flower.

Pauline entered the school bedraggled. Tall and slender, she hobbled in more like a wounded crow than a graceful swan. This was Pauline's first day in a special school for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. She was now 14 years old.

For the past three years in secondary school her life had been a story of daily trauma. Due to her height, she had very quickly become the butt of jokes among her peer group. The jokes led to bullying—verbal taunts and eventually physical attacks. Teachers tried to intervene, but always the hunting pack of students would seek out its prey, and Pauline would again fall victim to abuse from her peers.

Pauline changed from being an outward-going student of average ability, always eager to contribute in class. She became withdrawn, pale, shoulders hunched, frightened to speak or to be spoken to for fear of ridicule. When teachers, unaware of the peer pressure she was suffering, urged her to play a more active role in class, she became distraught. School was no longer a safe place; Pauline began to play truant. When her parents discovered this, they forced her to attend school daily by taking her there themselves. This caused Pauline physical distress to the extent that she would vomit. Her peer group turned on her even more, barring her from entering the bathroom when she needed to be sick (pretending, if a teacher passed by, to be helping her).

Pauline's emotional state did not cause her to display aggressive behavior, but it certainly reflected a disturbed child who found her whole school environment disturbing and alien. Such was her mental state that she began to underachieve in all lessons. There were suggestions from teachers that she had specific learning difficulties. She was certainly suffering from curriculum malnourishment. The curriculum diet she was receiving was failing to give her any sustenance. She was failing to thrive in her school environment, merely existing as a lonely, hyper-anxious, vulnerable child. She had lost her dignity.

At the instigation of the educational psychologist, an alternative placement was sought in a special school for students with emotional and behavioral difficulties. As the weeks passed in the special school, Pauline began to make contact with the teachers. She would never speak in class, but after a lesson ended, she would hang around to discuss some point with the teacher. Teachers were soon convinced that she did not have any significant learning difficulty.

Her attendance was good. Gradually, the dreadful pallor began to fade; her eyes lost some of their traumatized glare. She eventually shared with the school counselor the extent of her personal pain and anguish over the previous three years. She described it as "a daily nightmare." She had found the secondary school of 1,500 students totally disorientating. Once her peer group abandoned her, she described herself as "floating in a sea of people," none of whom she recognized, or who recognized her.

In the small special school of 40 students, Pauline found peace. She learned to trust again—first adults, and then fellow students. She became an active participant in classroom learning experiences, no longer the peripheral onlooker. Her capacity to care for others became clear, and she befriended many isolated individuals.

Her time at the special school was short. She left at the age of 16, and not all problems had been solved by far. Three years of lost education cannot be regained in two. New situations or change still caused Pauline anxiety. But when she left the school, she had a renewed sense of self-worth. This "restrictive environment" had been her safe haven; it had given her back her dignity.

1. How would you respond to someone's argument that Pauline belonged in a general education class in a general education school, not the special school?

I would explain that Pauline was traumatized by her school experience, and she is now suffering from high anxiety due to the experience. I would also explain that anxiety is not easily remedied in a loud and crowded space such as a large school. However, the small school setting could help her learn in an environment in which she feels safe. I would further explain how research shows that children in survival mode have a great deal of difficulty learning

2. If you were a teacher in a general education school, how would you respond to bullying of students like Pauline?

I would advocate on Pauline’s behalf by suggesting the administration really does something about the bullying problem instead of making it worse. I get so frustrated with administrators who say if they do something about bullying, it will only cause more problems for the victim (oops – tangent). I would also suggest that a respect policy be devised, implemented, and practiced in the school as seen on the behavioral supports video we watched in class. In the classroom, I would make sure Pauline felt safe and would not tolerate any bullying, teasing, or belittling. If I saw that Pauline was uncomfortable with anything I asked of her, I would not push her and would allow her space. I would also build a relationship with Pauline so that she would be more comfortable in my classroom.

3. What would be required to make all schools small, supportive, and inviting places for students like Pauline?

They could make the classes smaller, hire more staff, stagger schedules for students (begin and release times for classes could be staggered), split the classes in the cafeteria to prevent overcrowding, and schedule restroom breaks. This would not have to be done for all of the students, just for students who are overwhelmed with crowds and noise, i.e. Pauline, students with an ASD, students with high anxiety, etc.

Chandra: Anxiety Disorder

Personal Reaction

I felt the video was very informative, and allowed me to see what depressive disorders might look like in a student. However, they spoke very little about anxiety, and I felt this was a better case for discussing depressive disorders than anxiety disorders. I know how anxiety attacks look for me, but I would have liked to learn how an anxiety attack might look in another individual so that I may understand what to look for in students.

Essential Points

What is Anxiety Disorder? For Chandra, anxiety disorder is a reaction to her extreme depression. She states that her anxiety disorder first showed up shortly after 9/11 when she was in the eighth grade. Chandra exhibited extreme depressive episodes that resulted in uncontrollable crying. She stated that she soon became isolated and would lie on the couch, eat and sleep. Chandra also stated that she often felt lost, alone, and paranoid that others were speaking about her. When Chandra began to feel down, she started cutting on herself because she felt a release. The episodes of cutting attributed to mixed feelings of happiness and pride, but also guilt. Chandra said that sometimes she not only felt depressed, but she also began to feel numb, which would lead to more cutting. Chandra also stated that she began to feel physiological responses to the bouts of depression such as stomachaches and headaches. Chandra also stated that her parents have a history of mental illness. She said all of her maternal relatives have been diagnosed with depressive disorders, and some of her paternal relatives have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia.

Affects of Anxiety Disorder on Education. Chandra’s grades suffered as a result of her disorder. She was no longer a good student or a popular student. Chandra stated that public school was too overcrowded, which added to her anxiety. At public school, Chandra felt lost and alone, and she spent most of the time crying in the restroom. Because teachers did not understand her disorder, they began to treat her differently and ignore her. Chandra spent a month and a half out of school, which means she was behind her peers. Chandra’s inability to thrive in the public school setting led to placement in a special school for students with mood disorders. Chandra states that her grades are much better and she is the president of the student council for the second year. Coping skills have been placed directly in Chandra’s individual education program, which gives her the opportunity to learn how to deal with stressful situations.

Social Implications. Chandra social life was affected by her depressive/anxiety disorder. When she first began to show signs of the disorder, Chandra’s friends stopped talking with her. She states that she knew the reason is that her cutting scared them. Other students it the school began to treat Chandra as if she were a freak. Chandra began to become isolated in her school, even the teachers failed to be socially active with her. Chandra felt tremendous amount of guilt for the affects her behavior had on her family members. She states that her brother was confused and scared for her. However, he first felt that Chandra was faking. Now that he understands the disorder, her brother is a source of support, and he is nicer and speaks with her more. When Chandra is down, her brother helps her and makes things for her. Chandra’s parents both have mental illness. Due to the stress of having to deal with their own illness, Chandra felt her problems overwhelmed them. She does state, though, her understanding of her own illness helped Chandra to begin to understand her parents’ mental illnesses. Chandra states that she now has a lot of friends who are supportive and understanding of her difficulties, because they too have mood disorders.

Application of the Essential Points

I feel this video will help me to understand that some children in my classroom may not be able to control depressive moods or behaviors. I have learned that I need to not isolate these students from the classroom. Instead, I should let them know that I am there for them, and they are not alone. Hopefully, treating students in a manner that I would wish to be treated would help them keep from feeling a sense of abandonment and isolation. I will be sure to watch for signs of depression and anxiety in my students so that I may be able to be a source of support for the student.

COBPD (Childhood Onset Bipolar Disorder)

"All those with bipolar disorder experience mood swings that alternate from periods of sever highs (mania) to severe lows (depression). However, while these abnormally intense moods usually last for weeks or months in adults with the illness, children with bipolar disorder can experience such rapid mood swings that they commonly cycle many times within a day. The most typical pattern of cycling among those with COBPD, called ultra-ultra rapid or ultradian, is most often associated with low arousal states in the mornings followed by increases in energy towards late afternoon or evening.

COBPD is usually inherited." I do have a family member with bipolar disorder.

"Many parents report that their children have seemed different since early infancy. They describe difficulty settling their babies, and they note that their children are easily over-responsive to sensory stimulation. Sleep disturbances and night terrors are also commonly reported.

Later in a child's development, hyperactivity, fidgetiness, difficulties making changes and high levels of anxiety (particularly in response to separation from the child's mother) are commonly seen. Additionally, being easily frustrated, having difficulty controlling anger, and impulsiveness (difficulty waiting one's turn, interrupting others) often result in prolonged and violent temper tantrums.*

Rarely does bipolar disorder in children occur by itself. Rather, it is often accompanied by clusters of symptoms that, when observed at certain points of the child's life, suggest other psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, OCD, ODD, and conduct disorder.**

An estimated 50% to 80% of those with COBPD have ADHD as a co-occurring diagnosis. Since stimulant medications often prescribed for ADHD have been known to escalate the mood and behavior fluctuations in those with COBPD, it is important to address the bipolar disorder before the ADHD in such cases.

Several studies have reported that more than 80% of children who go on to develop COBPD have five or more of the primary symptoms of ADHD - distractibility, lack of attention to details, difficulty following through on tasks or instructions, motor restlessness, difficulty waiting one's turn and interrupting or intruding upon others."

I included information that only pertains to Damien. If you would like more information on COBPD click here.

Researched via D.F. and J.D. Papolos

If you feel that you may have a loved one that is bipolar (manic depressive), here are some signs to look for.

"Symptoms of a depressive episode:

1. depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). Note: In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.
2. markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation made by others)
3. significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. Note: In children, consider failure to make expected weight gains.
4. insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
5. psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down)
6. fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
7. feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional) nearly every day (not merely self-reproach or guilt about being sick)
8. diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day (either by subjective account or as observed by others)
9. recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide***

Symptoms of a Manic Episode:

1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
2. decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
3. more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
4. flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
5. distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
6. increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
7. excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)

Symptoms for a Hypomanic Episode

1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
2. decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
3. more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
4. flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
5. distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
6. increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
7. excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)"

*Damien has been witnessed doing all of these things.

**Damien has been diagnosed with all of these disorders.

***Damien was, at one time,  considered suicidal. His counselors, psychologists, and doctors all feel he is a threat to himself . Damien has often stressed to us that everyone would be happier if he were dead. He has tried to overdose on medication, walk out into traffic, and threatened to burn the house down. I made the mistake, before any diagnoses, of telling him when he drank some mouth wash, "If you drink anything like that, medicine, cleaners, whatever; you could die." I didn't know that I was giving him ideas and feel guilt for this.

With that being said, Damien is much more in control of his moods and behaviors than what he was when he was young. Though he often has suicidal thoughts, he has learned to go for a walk to cool down. He understands that getting away from the problem and thinking about his options does help. He also understands that we would be hurt and sad if he is gone, and he has said that he doesn't want to hurt us. This diagnosis has been since removed by Damien's psychiatrist, as she believes the behaviors were not due to Bipolar disorder but more related to the difficulty in effectively expressing himself.