4. “TEENAGE LIFE”
Teenage Life
• ..truth about adolescence. Their minds "censor" their memories; and have them believe that
being a teenager was was one big party, free of cares and responsibilities. Well let me say this,
you couldnOt be more wrong if you had a lobotomy. There aren't that many adults around who
realise what adolescence was really like. The anguish, the fear, the anxiety, the stress. People
don't remember those problems because they want to forget them.
The truth of the matter is, is that being a teenager is hard, right from the beginning, and it doesn't
get any easier. We are such easy prey for big name companies who advertise using the pressure
of popularity, looks and sex to force us to buy their product that, as it turns out, we never wanted
or needed in the first place. Our lives are filled with stress. One of the greatest sources of
pressure is school. Where we are herded like cattle from room to room, chewing on our cud,
while the hay of knowledge is force fed to us as we are trying our hardest to gulp it down as more
and more is shovelled in. Another great source of pressure is ourselves. We try our hardest to be
accepted among a certain group or circle. Whereas most of the time we are rejected and we
become depressed. Depression, another problem, along with ignorance and apathy that thwarts
our lives. A wise man when questioned about his view on ignorance and apathy, said "I don't
know, and I don't give a damn.
We find outlets for our emotions through either art, poetry or music, being the three most
common. There are thousands of poems floating around written by bitter or depressed teenagers
that are never recognised as works of art. Another form of escape for teenagers is, unfortunately,
suicide. It is alarming how high the teen suicide rates have risen over the past decade. Yet, it is
comforting that there are support groups and counsellors available now to aid...
5. ...act and think. Teenage years can be both the best and worst of times with many factors
adding to the stress; academically or socially. By the time they enter middle school, its
more than just "homework" and "school". It's now the real deal.
Academics is one of the most known pressure to teenagers these days. Most of them feel
as though they're able handle it, and may take on more than they can grasp. At times we
question ourselves, "Why should school be so stressful?" It is said, "School is suppose to
be a place where young people are to be exposed to new, interesting ‘stuff,' and to learn.
That's supposed to be enjoyable to some extent. And of course, you're supposed to make
new friends and hang out with them, having the time of your young life." Unfortunately,
that is different for most people. Where there's fun, there are responsibilities and
expectations that follow. Teenagers begin to face jam-packed schedules, hours of
homework and projects, high expectations, demanding social lives and way too little
sleep. All of this eventually accumulates, putting great stress on even the smartest,
straight-A student.
Parents are another stress factor as well. They tend to set high expectations for their
children, however, pay no attention to the amount of time and work that has to be put in.
Students may start to feel that they're pressured to get good grades in order to please
their parents or get into good schools.
6. Common Teenage Problems
...of their life strongly and positively, while others face many problems and difficulties.
This depends on the environment these young adults live in, their parents, their friends,
their living conditions, their education, and many other factors. Teenagers face many
problems such as becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol, being influenced negatively
by their peers, self-image and weight, or even arguments with their parents
Drugs between teenagers is one of the most serious problems, because it causes a
change in the behavior of any teenager and a physical change too. Most of the teenagers
use alcoholic drinks as a way to escape from their problems. Teenagers might also use
them because of their friend's influence. Poor teenagers might use them too, to forget
their cold body and hunger. Alcoholism is a society's sickness that affects all people,
including teenagers and adults. It is considered as a modern way to have fun. Some
teens drink alcohol so they can become popular and well-known in their school. People
who drink alcohol think that they can forget their problems and travel far away from
reality. I think that drinking alcohol is extremely dreadful because it can turn into a long
lasting addiction that can harm you psychologically and physically. In other words, when a
person drinks, he/she may lose his/her 5 senses, and won't be able to think.
Most teenagers agree that they will follow a peer's decision rather than their parents'.
Peers are more influential in a teen's life and tend to have more power than parents. Peer
pressure has always been present and will also always be present. It is not a disease or a
crime, it is an influence; either a negative or a positive one. Negative peer pressure is an
influence put on a person to do something wrong, or something the person doesn't want
to do. This may be stealing, taking drugs, or other dangerous... View Full Essay
7. Death Leads To Matuarity
...part. In this teenage stage, the teenagers experiment with everything without caring
about the consequences. For most people, the life prior to the teenage stage is the most
exciting part because there are no worries; every thing is fun. When the teenage life
begins, most of their behaviours change while adapting to various habits. They follow
good and bad behaviours as the result of influences from their parents, friends, teachers
and the society they live in. These behaviours and societal norms combined with
enthusiastic nature makes teenagers do various things. The result of their activities gives
them the basic knowledge of the real world. Dead Poets Society, by N.H. Kleinbaum, and
A Separate Peace, John Knowles, are two novels that focus on the difficult journey
towards maturity and the adult world of the teenage boys. They focus on the learning
experience of friendship and self esteem through the death of others. Both John Keating
and Finny (Phineas) are great leaders who face many difficulties in achieving their goal
and often become the victims. Dead Poets Society opens with Keating being a substitute
teacher for an English class and encouraging his students to make their lives meaningful
and extraordinary by referring to the word "Carpe Diem" (25). This is the Latin word for
seize the Day and he wants them to seek out their dreams and to believe in themselves.
Keating believes that education requires the student to think for himself. He must be free
to question and to learn in the way that he learns best. A Separate Peace opens with
Finny being portrayed as a brave sixteen years old boy who strongly believes in and
encourages other students in his class to act upon their wishes. Both characters are
optimistic about making a change in other people's lives to make them better. Keating
encourages the students to write poems to express their feelings. Finny...
8. Teenage Suicide
...American society has been concerned about this issue, especially
teenage suicide. The suicide rate among teenagers is not constant for a period
of time; it keeps changing over time. Most of the time, the suicide rate among
boys is greater than that among girls.
Different types of people in our society respond to this issue in
different ways. Earlier in this year, some 932 parents of adolescents completed
a questionnaire of 30 common psychological medical concerns of adolescence,
among which suicide was one item. They were asked how important it is for
pediatricians to discuss these with their kids during checkups. The result
showed that more than 66% of the parents being questioned said 29 of the 30
items were important to be discussed with their teenage children. This survey
showed that American parents are somehow concerned about suicide among teenagers.
This concern is pervasive among American teenagers. In 1993, a national survey
of adolescents about their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, youth suicide was
made. The survey reulted that 60% of the teenagers reported knowing another
teen who had attempted suicide while 6% reported having make an attempt
themselves.
The above two examples indicates that it is very important for parents,
counselors, or different institutions to become aware of the reasons and
symptons of teenage suicide and to find out possible preventive procedures.
Recently, an examination of suicide rates among Black and White adolescents from
1986 to 1991 was made. It showed that suicide rate among girls of all
ethnicities remained stable. Also, the rate for White boys were pretty much
stabilized; however, the rate for Black and other minority boys increased
significantly. Those increases were more rapid in areas where suicide rates
were historically low. This phenomenon tells that there are various kinds of
reasons for...
9. Teenage Suicide
...purpose, or in other words it means, "to kill yourself" (Marcus 1). Suicide is a dramatic
word that can change the way people view things in life. It is a thought that brings a teen
to the point of self-murder. It is an event where a young one feels desperation and pain
just before pulling the trigger or jumping off the bridge. Many of those who have thought
about suicide or have committed suicide have done so because their life has changed,
and many are having difficulty adjusting to it. It is a time where everything seems to go
wrong, and a person starts to feel empty inside. It is like a mystery that could happen to
young, old, rich and poor. The only thing a person can do when there are signs of suicide
is to prevent it from happening,
but why is it that people turn over to suicide, and how can a person prevent it from
happening?
There are about eighty deaths for teenage suicide every day in the United States, and
there are about one thousand five hundred teens that attempt suicide. Many fail suicide,
which is a good thing. After trying to attempt suicide for the first time, many can attempt
to cry for help before a second attempt is made. People need to keep in mind that if a
person turns to suicide and achieves suicide, there is nothing a community can do. But
there are always many ways in which people can help suicidal teens. Even though there
are teenagers who truly want to die, there are ways in which anyone can help if there are
warning signs of suicide.
In this case there are many ways in which a teenager could turn over to suicide.
Loneliness, depression and the abuse of drugs and alcohol are just a few ways. A loss
in a teen's life could be very traumatizing, and losing a loved one for any reason may
bring teenagers into the borderline of killing themselves. Being left out and not fitting in
with a new group could often lead a...
10. “TEENAGE MIDLIFE CRISIS”
There are many issues that face today's teenagers. Probably one of the most
common is the concept of individualism or identity. The teenage years harbor
some of the most confusing and impressionable years in the life of any human
being. There are many expectations, both individual and societal, that play a
large role in the development of each teenager. Though most teenagers find
their way through these difficult years as their own person, there are some who
never seem to fully understand who they are. This misunderstanding can lead to
many problems in adulthood.
When a child is born they are catered to for about three or four years. Once
the child embarks on their first journey away from home (school) there are some
changes that occur in the child. For the most part these changes are minimal, for
the child still retains the innocent nature not to care or understand the art of
conforming to those around him or her. Once a child enters the pivotal time in his
or her life called adolescence that confident child becomes an awkward
teenager. What once never crossed the mind of that child now weighs heavily on
the mind of that teenager. The most important thing for a teenager is to be liked
by others. The easiest way for teenagers to be liked by others, they seem to
think, is to conform to what others do. So the pattern begins.
Teenagers create expectations for themselves by looking at famous people
or perhaps even some of their peers. Teenagers will starve themselves to be
thinner, but overpriced clothing, and even acquire the same interests as others,
but to what end? The instability caused during this time in a person's life causes
them to be less sure of him or herself than ever before. In an effort to be liked or
popular or just simply not hated, teenagers tend to give up their right to think on
their own. Many just do what others say. This is a dangerous habit. There are so
many unspoken expectations both that...
11.
12. Student
...incidents of depression and mental health problems, the lack of father figures, and the
high rate of poverty often connected to children in homes run by teenage mothers put
them at serious disadvantages when compared to children raised in nuclear families.
Many people believe that the implementation of sex education in schools and the addition
of more federal aid for single parents are major causes for the country's high rate of teen
pregnancies. When the true purpose of sex education and federal aid is to help
strengthen the mother and her child so that they can eventually lead productive lives.
The absence of a father figure in the home brings about a chain reaction of dilemmas.
The emotional problems that children suffer because there is no father in their life can be
potentially hazardous to their future. Many children tend to be effected mentally because
these powerful emotions have the potential to do permanent damage in a child's life.
Children may experience sadness and depression, aggressive behavior, frequent illness,
difficulty in school, eating problems, and sleeping disorders.
Many children also suffer from various social difficulties and self-esteem problems that
come along with living in a one-parent household. The pressure that children raised by
teenage parents go through is tremendous. Children who don't have fathers present in
the home often feel unloved. There is no trauma as excruciatingly painful as parental
rejection and there is probably no worse of a way to wreck a person's life.
Males are affected differently by the absence of a father than females are. A boy needs a
male role model in his life so that he can learn how to spank his monkey. Children who
don't have good role models often choose negative, unsavory characters to mold
themselves after. These children become susceptible to many of the dangerous risks
associated with...
13. Crisis in teenage life
Premature adulthood Is imposed upon teenagers in today’s society. It affects them in two
different but closely related ways. One is in which a teenagers needs to find a sense of
self and needs protection on trying to do so. The other is the stress that is being forced
upon them.
Teenagers need to be given time , support and guidance to form from child to adult, but
that must come from the parents. Many parents either feel powerless to give a child what
they need in life because the child can get it else where: they may do whatever it is that
they want behind a parent’s back. They could also be insecure about themselves and that
they did not receive the guidance themselves when they needed in growing up.
Teenagers need protection against the dangers that they may face so that they can be
prepared for the future.
Teenagers now are highly stressed. There are more things for teenagers to stress about
then there was years ago. Since teenagers are given so much freedom which doesn’t
give them much time to focus on their future. Freedom also makes it hard for a teenager
to adapt to new situations because they are already conformed to do what they want
rather then for what is best in that situation.
In relation to the two different ways in which premature adulthood is forced upon today’s
teenagers is that it can be hard for a teenager to form a sense of identity because they
are faced with many challenges in life. Since they are given so much freedom they are
not being protected from the mature, stressful, obstacles causing stress. Many teenagers
today have to deal with many stress related factors that a middle age person would.
A teenager can not form a personal identity because of the lack of guidance. Many do not
know how to deal with certain situations. They are not prepared to face challenges. Since
they have to deal with situations on their own there is a lack of time to find themselves.
Since they are given so much freedom they grow...
14. Teenage Pregnant
Teenage Pregnant Parenting today is more difficult because teenager have lost the
support they used to receive from the extended family. Teens who already are pregnant
can improve their chances of having a healthy baby. Being a pregnant at a young age it is
difficult on health, education and labor. Being a teenage is difficult to be pregnant. Some
teens may need to change their life style to improve their chances of having a healthy
baby. Eating unhealthy foods, smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking drugs can increase
the risk that a baby will be born with health problems, such as low birth weight. Eating a
nutritious and balanced diet helps the baby and you to be healthy. Smoking increases the
risk for low birth weight, premature birth, pregnancy complications and SIDS. Alcohol and
drug use limit fetal growth and can cause birth defects. Avoiding all prescription and over-the-
counter drugs (including herbal preparations), unless recommended by a health care
provider who is aware of the pregnancy. A baby born to a teenage mother is at higher risk
than a baby born to an older mother for premature birth, low birth weight, other serious
health problems, and death. With her education cut short, a teenage mother may lack
job skills, making it hard for her to find and keep a job. A teenage mother may become
financially dependent on her family or on public assistance. Teen mothers are more likely
to live in poverty than women who delay childbearing. Some teenage mothers are more
likely to drop out of school or don’t go to classes. A teenage mother is at greater risk
than women over age 20 for pregnancy complications such as premature labor, anemia
and high blood pressure. Premature labor is labor that occurs before the 37th week of
pregnancy due to uterine contractions that cause the cervix (mouth of the uterus) to open
earlier than normal. This can result in the birth of a premature baby.
15. Teenage Marriage
Teenage Marriage Young marriages, especially teenage marriages, can face extra
strain due to the fact that young people often have not prepared for the reality of
marriage. Couples sometimes find that what they want at twenty-five is not the same as
what they wanted in their teenage years. The research is clear that young people have a
better chance in marriage if they wait until they are older to marry. The first probable
cause of teenage marriage is that the young couple wants to leave their parental home
and believe marriage is the best solution for that. The possibility of this happening is less
as the teenagers examine the bigger problems that are most likely going to arise after the
marriage. The young couple would face a problem involving lack of money. Considering
that there are even some adults who are facing financial problems during their marriage,
young couples will definitely going to face this same problem .The next worry that’s to
arise is the problem of housing. Their friends would not be able to offer them a solution
for this problem on any long-term basis. Then the realization comes that marriage during
their teen years would entail the taking up of adult responsibilities and giving up the joys
of their youth. Perhaps the worst mistake of all is to marry simply to get out from an
unpleasant situation at home. Even if some family problems occur and they seem
unbearable we all know that would not last forever. When a young person marries,
however, it is for life. According to “Teenage Couples: Caring, Change, and
Commitment”, by Jeanne Warren Lidsay more than 60% of teenage marriages fail within
5 years. Another author named Eleanor Ayer writes in her book “Teen Marriage”, that: “
If the couple is truly in love with each other that love would still be there waiting when
both of them are ready and mature enough to deal with the problems and issues of
marriage. An example of what is making a marriage challenging is that at any given
moment the...
