Unhappiness during teenage years

[Ewan]

It seems to now be widely accepted, at least in the UK, that teenagers are generally moody and depressed. This is a massive generalisation, of course, but I think there may be some truth in it. To me, a lot of my teenage friends do seem less emotionally stable and less able to cope with life's challenges than adults I know. It makes sense to me as well because people get good at things, in this case the 'thing' is life, through experience, and teenagers by definition do not have a lot of experience. There are plenty of other possible explanations for their unhappiness, ranging from hormones to too much homework.

Do you think it is the case that teenagers are unhappy more than adults? If so, what do you think are the main causes for this and what solutions should we be considering?

[Olga]

I would be bold to say that yes, there is a greater unhappiness and emotional disturbance amongst teens (and tweens). At least in our modern society, I'm not sure if it's a universal thing - I would be tempted to say our culture definitely has something to do with it.

Of course there are the hormones and the physical changes that are happening. But apart from that I think it's also a period of uncertainty. Our culture is so individualistic, which is a good thing, but it has its downsides. We have to decide so many things for ourselves: who are we exactly, who do we date, do we want to study, if so what study do we want to do, what career do we want to pursue, etc. Some more primal cultures marry at a young age, and have strict rules for whom to marry, which leaves little individual choice. As a 'job' there isn't much to decide there either, you just continue to do what your parents did (i.e. cultivating land, herding sheep, hunting...)

In total I've tried 3 studies so far because I can't decide what interests me most, and when I look at the list of studies at my university it's still dazzling to me: there's a total of about 360 things to choose from.

What we can do about it, I think, is sort of what Ipower is about: spend more time discussing identity with teens at school, help them discover who they are and what they want to do with their lives, give them better career guidance, etc.

[Richard]

Well i'm still a teenager so i'll throw my 2 cents in.
I think its mainly the hormones and the changes that come with that, but also there is a lot of pressure during this time, constantly being poked and prodded into making decisions that will/could affect the rest of their life, such as: exams, career choices, university choices, subject choices, homework deadlines or part time jobs can all have an affect on a young developing mind which is also trying to cope with hormonal changes.
But during the later teenage years it gets easier (for me anyway), I'm certainly not as moody as I once was :D

[Atreyu Zuniga]

wow good two cents richard!

[PwnDaddy123]

Identity vs. Role Confusion (zomg I actually learned something is psych. class). It’s just something everyone goes through at one point in their life in which people try to figure out who they are, and what makes them different from other individuals so they question their own identity. That whole phase of the “who am I?” and “what am I doing with my life?” This usually happens around teenage years though since they have to make decisions that will enable them to living the life they’ll live for a few decades.

Schools just drop a truckload of pressure unto your back and are forcing you to make decisions quickly about your future. This results to people making bad choices (i.e. me) and that they later regret them (i.e. me) it leads to a little depression and then that whole idea of not knowing who you are as a person comes back.

I personally think that peers do a really bad job of preparing students for the adult life. They implement fear into you, how you’re going to be an adult now and you’re entering the real world. Which is all bullshit; I don’t who the hell believes there’s such a thing as a real world and a fake world (there’s as much idiots in high school as there is at my dad’s workplace). These prejudice they drill into students’ brain about the mature adult life is just completely ridiculous and out of context. They need to be more lenient towards teenagers, they are in the middle of the process of creating an identity for themselves, and we shouldn’t rush things and have them turn into complete morons once adults. To all this sadness and depression, I’m also going to add that the suicide rates for teenagers are extremely high; it’s also the leading cause of death so we’re obviously not being surrounded properly.

[Ewan]

"They implement fear into you, how you’re going to be an adult now and you’re entering the real world. Which is all bullshit; I don’t who the hell believes there’s such a thing as a real world and a fake world (there’s as much idiots in high school as there is at my dad’s workplace)."

I like this. It pisses me off when I hear the phrase 'the real world'. Especially as it's often used to describe school!

Totally agree with what you guys have said about finding your identity etc. I'm definitely going through that at the moment - which is to be expected.

[Atreyu Zuniga]

nicely put pwndaddy123!

[z-man]

It is normal and transitional, I also ended up in a big depression when I was 19.
Just avoid going in to the victim mentality to get attention. Concentrate on the things you do want, never on the things that you do not want.

[Fortnox]

I think the reason for teenage depression is obvious; teenagers are at the point that their sugar coated youth full of happiness, rainbows and chocolate rivers begins to dissolve until they have an almost accurate view of the world. Their minds develop so fast psychologically and neurologically many new ideas and concepts are available to them, and it can be a massive shock to the system, especially emotionally as most of the realisations teenagers come to are very negative ones.

[Lakatos]

True. I'm finishing high-school ( is it called collage in British? ) this year, and I just recently realized that this is going to be my last year here. I never realized how many years I have spent between these walls, and now as I look back I am shocked by all the things that I have went through, witnessed, experienced, and this really overpowering feeling of melancholy for the old, simple times just engulfs me...

Yet still, I look forward to the future, to see all the exciting things it will hold for me.

[This Is An Alias]

Ugh, I know what you mean, these teens are so damn angsty. Personally I blame it on the amount of tv they watch. When kids expose themselves to bullshit like the oc and other teen dramas they are letting themselves think that a dramatic lifestyle is a good and desirable thing, so they try to make everything in life dramatic. This is all coming from an objective point of view because when I was a teenager I was working on my ninja training, but having had to do work around schools and malls and general social areas I've had ample opportunity to observe this teenage lifestyle.

I think that this really just applies to kids in the first world, because they have so flippin much stuff that they don't appreciate what they have, they just look at what they don't have. Couple that with the fact that at 16 just about no one really knows who they are and you have got yourself one moody individual. I think that these kids need to be slapped around a little bit and sent to a small village in africa, or maybe a ghetto in china, just so that they can learn how good they have it where they are. Guaranteed that when those kids come home they'll do anything to make sure they don't get sent back there, including cheering the fuck up.

[circonG]

I second your post Alias.

[Jason Click]

I don't believe I was more unhappy when I was a teenager, I just think that now I'm a lot better at hiding it.