NRS 434NV Topic 3 DQ 2 Adolescents External Stressors Essay
One of the main external stressors to adolescents are parents getting divorced. The stressor has a huge impact on adolescents because they tend to connect with both families. The idea of not living with both parents can result in the adolescent engaging in risk-taking behaviors. For instance, the child can result in using drugs to relieve stress. In a case where they do not get immediate help, they might end up becoming drug addicts (Meland, Breidablik & Thuen, 2020). The impact of such a scenario would affect both the parents and the child. The adolescent could also engage in petty theft as a way of seeking attention from the parents. Failure to intervene could result in the child joining gangs that could cost their lives or result in them dropping out of school.
Another stressor factor that might affect adolescents is peer pressure. As children transition into the adolescence stage, they undergo a lot of psychological changes. Exposing such psychological changes to peer pressure can have a huge impact on the child’s life. Among the associated risk-behavior are taking drugs, sex, stealing, and isolation, among others (Kenny et al., 2017). This kind of behavior can harm the child to the extent that some commit suicide. For instance, peer pressure that results in isolation increases the chances of the child being depressed. If an intervention is missing, the child can easily commit suicide (Laghi et al., 2019). They might be unable to carry out daily activities as expected.
In most cases, peer pressure has a huge impact on the child’s education. It can result in a drop in grades, making the child despair about school life. Hence, it is important to intervene as soon as the signs of risk-taking behavior begin to show.
References
Laghi, F., Bianchi, D., Pompili, S., Lonigro, A., & Baiocco, R. (2019). Cognitive and affective empathy in binge drinking adolescents: Does empathy moderate the effect of self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink? Addictive behaviors, 89, 229-235.
Kenny, U., O’Malley-Keighran, M. P., Molcho, M., & Kelly, C. (2017). Peer influences on adolescent body image: friends or foes? Journal of Adolescent Research, 32(6), 768-799.
Meland, E., Breidablik, H. J., & Thuen, F. (2020). Divorce and conversational difficulties with parents: Impact on adolescent health and self-esteem. Scandinavian journal of public health, 48(7), 743-751.
Describe two external stressors that are unique to adolescents. Discuss what risk-taking behaviors may result from the external stressors and what support or coping mechanism can be introduced.
Topic 3 DQ 2 sample 2
External stressors are events and situations that happen to you some external stressors include; major life changes and these changes could be positive or negative changes, examples of positive changes are new marriage, planned pregnancies, and many others while a negative change is dead of loved ones and many others. But the most common external stressors with adolescents are Bullying and Identity Confusion which affect the adolescent population immensely.
Bullying is aggressive repeatedly intentional behavior involving an imbalance of power. Nowadays bullies are often anonymous, bullying over the social medial platform is what has become known as “Cyber-Bullying”. Bullying in any form can lead to teen depression or suicide (Falkner, 2018). Bringing bullying to the forefront has increase awareness of the problem and promoted education throughout schools not only is it important to educate on types of bullying but the effect or impacts as well. Educating students, parents, professionals, and communities at large to understand the effects of bullying such as suicides and depressions, and recognizing the signs of bullying which can lead to depression and suicide.
It is worth noting that, it is estimated that more than half of the children who commit suicide are involved in alcohol and drugs (Falkner,2018). This should be enough stimuli for parents to have serious conversations and educate their adolescent children about the negative effects of drugs and alcohol. It is better to avoid or prevent these behaviors than to try to cure them after their occurrences. Hence through quality conversations, awareness, and education about the negative effects of these risks taking behaviors (drugs and alcohol, smuggling and selling drugs, use of drugs, and engaging in unprotected sex) prevention can be achieved.
Also, adolescents at this age suffer from identity and confusion a stage which is also termed transition because children are leaving childhood into adulthood hence a high level of confusion of personality in areas of social interactions and how to fit into the society. At this stage they will need to be educated in school and parents on how to about it since most decision-taking at this age will extend to adulthood
The way forward to any problem is to identify the problem from which, an appropriate solution can be made. Hence, to cultivate coping mechanisms, parents should identify the problem and its root because it is only at that point that the solution can be found. Firstly, it is imperative that there is a trusting relationship between parents and the child to ensure a smooth flow of their communication and finally good bonding because children will tend to open up if they share a strong bond. Also encouraging them to make friends with peers who have the same life goals, daily objectives like the same time to do extracurricular activities and the same time to study will go a long way to keep them safe and better their lives.
References
Falkner. A: Grand Canyon University (Ed.). (2018). Health Assessment: Foundations for Effective Practice Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs434vn/health-assessment-foundations-for-effective-practice/v1.1/#/chapter/3
