Teenage Stress

Ella Reintsma

Summary
I wanted to do this project because I myself am a stressed person, and I
wanted to find out what the biggest stressor was in most teens and see if
the stress I was experiencing was the same for most girls my age.
This is a very important project because it shows teenage girls what part of
their life causes stress so they can be aware of it. A person can make
him/herself unhealthy by stressing out too much. It is important to find a
way to ease your stress. Stress is very dangerous to our bodies as it can
make if difficult to control emotions, bring out diseases you are more prone
to, damage your heart muscle, makes you gain weight, start premature
aging (makes you look older), and weakens your immune system.

Background Research
When questioned, most teens said grades, their families, worrying about
their appearance, friendships, and their dating life were the biggest stress
causes. I chose these 5 options and the additional option for parental
pressure in my survey since they were the most often mentioned. Stress is
a feeling that's created when we react to particular events. It's the body's
way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with
focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. The activities which
bring on stress are called stressors. Long term situations are harder on
most bodies because a low level of stress for a long period of time takes a
toll on any person. Bad habits for dealing with stress are often carried into
adulthood. Its good to find a way to ease your stress early on in life. To
escape from the stress, a lot of teens use music.

Investigative Question
Q: What part of most teenage girls life causes the most stress?

Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that most teenage females biggest stressor is
grades/schoolwork. Every one of my test subjects will be going to school;
not every girl does sports. Some people dont even bother with friendships
or dating, but every girl is required to go to school. If one were to argue
this, they may say that different schools have different expectations.
Students adjust to which school they are at. All schools do have
expectations, even if it as simple as showing up to class everyday and
turning in homework. Some girls are used to that style and remembering
the little things become their stress. Others go to higher education schools,
but are just as stressed because they are used to getting a lot of work.
Each girl is used to their own lifestyle and still finds stress in it.

Variables
My independent variable is which girl is taking the survey and which activities
each girl participates in.
My dependant variable would be what each girl chooses based on her personal
stress.
Other possible variables that were kept constant throughout the project are
keeping all the questions on the survey the same.

Materials Needed
1. Teenagers to take the survey (I had 13 subjects) all being the same age
range (ages 13-17).
2. A personally made survey.
3. A notepad/computer program which can note the percentages of the
answers of the survey.

Procedure
1. Create a survey with questions regarding activities regarding stress. My 5
questions were:
a. Rank the following activities (1) being most stressful and (6) being the
least of your worries.
b. Which of the categories below do you spend the most time on?
c. Which of these do you think will cause the most stress in most teens?
Why?
d. Rank the following options as (1) is something worth putting effort into,
to (6) you don't particularly like the option.
e. Is there something in your life that causes more stress than any of the
given options? If so, please state it below. (I did not include this
question in my results since most people had no answer).

Procedure (continued)
All of the questions had the same 6 options for answers:
School/Homework, Friendships, Dating, Personal Appearance, Sports, and
Pleasing Your Parents. In question 5 (Is there something in your life that causes
more stress than any of the given options? If so, please state it below), I was
also given the answer of Public Speaking which wouldve been an interesting
option as well, I just did not find it relevant as an everyday activity so I did not
include it.
2. Send the link of the survey out to multiple test subjects.
3. Record the percentages of how often the answer was chosen in a table.

Pictures
These pictures are not
of my survey, but they
are examples of the
program I used.

Data Table
Q1
(ave
rag
e)

Q2
(av
era
ge)

Q3
(ave
rag
e)

Q4
(ave
rag
e)

Aver
age
in
All:

Scho
ol/Gr
ades

4.6
9%

30.
77
%

75
%

4.57
%

28.7
6%

Frien
dshi
ps

3.2
3%

0.0
0%

0.0
0%

4.21
%

1.86
%

Dati
ng

2.6
9%

0.0
0%

0.0
0%

2%

1.17
%

Pers
onal
App

Graphs

Graphs (continued)

Total Average Graph

Results
From the average of all of the graphs, school was most stressful and
averaged a 28.76% compared to friendships which had averaged a 1.86%,
dating which averaged a 1.17%, personal appearance which averaged a 5%,
sports which averaged to 17%, and parental pressure which averaged a 5.89%.

Conclusion
Overall, I was correct with my hypothesis. It was, in fact, school/homework
which caused the most stress. The reason this is correct is because every
teenage girl is required to go to school. School also requires due dates and out
of school which the other activities do not demand.

Next Time/Future Considerations

Next time, I would consider having a smaller age group. Most often, older teens
tend to worry about dating and schoolwork at a higher level than the younger
ones. I would also focus on one particular age group and I would add more
questions to the survey.
One possible experiment I could perform would be doing the same experiment,
but with male subjects as well. I could see the difference between stress in boys
versus girls and test if gender makes a difference.

Acknowledgments
Id like to thank all of the girls who participated in my science fair project!

Bibliography
Krans, Brian. "8 Ways Stress Is More Dangerous Than You Think."Healthlines RSS News. N.p., 27 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mental-eight-ways-stress-harms-your-health-082713#2
"Stress." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Arcy Lyness. The Nemours Foundation, 01 May 2013. Web. 23
Nov. 2014.
http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/emotions/stress.html
Jayson, Sharon. "Teens Feeling Stressed, and Many Not Managing It Well."USA Today. Gannett, 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/11/stress-teens-psychological/5266739
"Are Teens Adopting Adults' Stress Habits?" American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2013/teen-stress.aspx
Familydoctor.org Editorial Staff. "Teens and Stress: Who Has Time For It?"Health Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/teens/emotional-well-being/teens-and-stress-who-has-time-for-it.html
"Create Surveys, Get Answers." SurveyMonkey: Free Online Survey Software & Questionnaire Tool. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
https://www.surveymonkey.com

My pictures are from SurveyMonkey.com as cited above.