Teenagers face a number of problems these days, and just as our society has changed over time, so have the problems faced by teens. Female teenagers are no longer considered educationally subnormal when compared to men like they were years ago, which is one problem that no longer exists, but now young women are under tremendous pressure to have sex without the prerequisite of a meaningful relationship. Below are a few more problems faced by teenagers these days.
The pressure to do well in school
This is a rather large problem for teenagers, and is the main reason why teenagers use essay writing companies and buy answer keys. A modern student living in the West is told that if he or she does not get a degree, then he or she will be a lower income earner for the rest of his or her life. There is also the pressure to do well that comes from society, parents and the educational institutions themselves. Many western teens suffer from a range of stress related illnesses and even stress related conditions such as grinding their teeth or IBS.
The appeal of drugs
Drugs are everywhere, and this is especially true in North America where a lot of money may be made from selling drugs to kids. Acceptance into peer groups is often conditional of them taking drugs of some sort (most often ecstasy and marijuana), and since teens often have trouble judging the long-term repercussions of their actions, they are often caught up in addiction from an early age.
A mixed message on morality
It often comes down to a question of loyalty, but to whom a teenager should be loyal is quite mixed. If a teenager cannot find that loyalty within a family environment, then he or she may look towards a gang or church. Join a church and the teen is bullied for believing in a super-monster in the sky, and join a gang and you are bullied by the police. The word loyalty is often thrown around when morality is questioned, for example, a person withholds criminal information on another person because it was the Christian thing to do (a la loyalty to a god). Another example may be a person who withholds criminal information on another person because that other person is in their gang (a la loyalty to their gang/family).
Teenage hormones do play a part in teen life
The effect of hormones is not as dramatic as the TV may make you think. Teens do not lose their sense of right and wrong, or become irrational (in a technical sense). But, as any woman who suffers from may tell you, hormones are capable of making a person more emotional and sensitive than usual. Add this to a teenage body, which is not used to dealing with such emotional shifts, and you get some very odd behavior and reactions.
The conflict of being liked as oppose to being an individual
The “norm” is often all that is required in order to make it through education. A person must have no major differences to all the other students in order to avoid the harshest ridicule. However, teenage years are often a time for self discovery, and this often means exposing individuality. Doing this will create a conflict between being oneself and acting/dressing/talking the same way as others.
