Alleviation: An International Journal of Nutrition, Gender & Social Development, ISSN 2348-9340, Volume 9, Number 9 (2022):1-8 © Arya PG College (College with Potential for Excellence Status by UGC) & Business Press India Publication, Delhi http://apcjournals.com, www.aryapgcollege.ac.in

Stress Management in Adolescents – An Insight into the Need for Appropriate Life Skills

Abstract
Stress is a way of life in the present world. The experiences during adolescent years deeply influence an individual and profoundly affect emotional and physical health later in life. Adolescence is the transition period between childhood and adulthood and it is a period of stress and strain. It is a time of many psychosocial and physiological changes. Consequently, the adolescent may face increase in stress related psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and drug abuse often observed during this stage of development which is painful and they do not have the resources to cope up. Parents’ expectations, sibling’s rivalry, status issues, teachers’ expectations and financial issues create stress. A number of biological and environmental stressors such as demands of school, physiological changes, and adversities like family conflicts and responsibilities and an uncertain future place adolescent at risk for emotional problems. The impact of unresolved stress may be manifested as depression, eating disorders, elimination disorders, suicidal behaviour and dissociative disorders, anxiety, poor concentration, aggression, physical illness, substance abuse etc. Teenagers do nothing to cope with their stress or not knowing what to do to manage it. This paper deals with providing insight into the different ways by which the adolescents will be able to manage stress in their lives by practicing various life skills in their life. Identification of adolescents’ stress and stressors is very important and helpful for planning and implementing health promotion as well as prevention programmes in the natural setting of the school. The coping strategies based on various life skills will help the teenagers to deal with any kind of crisis and build up resilience. Self –awareness, problem solving, empathy, effective communication can help in reducing stress in the life of the adolescents. There is need for a paradigm shift into our perspective about mental well-being of the adolescents.
Keywords: Adolescents, Life Skills, Resilience, Stress Management Techniques.

Introduction Stress in adolescents can be described as that condition which disturbs a person's mental and physical well-being. It is the body’s reaction to a challenge, which could be anything from outright physical danger to not to able to get good marks or trying out for a sports team. This age is marked by rapid changes comprising of physical, cognitive, and emotional. Young people also face changing relationships with peers, new demands at school, family tensions, and safety issues in their communities. The ways in which teens cope with these stressors can have significant short- and long-term consequences on their physical and emotional health. The stress response can cause problems, however, when it overreacts or goes on for too long. Long-term stressful situations, like coping with a parent’s divorce or being bullied at school, can produce a lasting, low-level stress that can wear out the body’s reserves, weaken the immune system and make an adolescent feel depleted or depressed. Stress can become distress when we are unable to cope or when we believe that we do not have the ability to meet the challenge. The solution is to adapt, change, and find methods to turn that bad stress into good stress.
Stress is categorized by feelings of tension, frustration, worry, sadness and withdrawal, which commonly last for few days. Parents’ expectations, sibling’s rivalry, status issues, teachers’ expectations and financial issues create stress. A number of biological and environmental stressors such as demands of school, physiologic changes, and adversities like family conflicts and responsibilities and an uncertain future place adolescent at risk for emotional problems. In the face paced and technological world we live in, stress management is key to survival as well as sanity. Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in their life. There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. One can either change the situation or change one’s reaction. Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is not one solution to managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so one should experiment with different techniques and strategies by focusing on what makes the adolescent feel calm and in control.
Life skills are a set of abilities, attitudes and socio-emotional competencies that enable individuals to learn, make informed decisions and exercise rights to lead a healthy and productive life and subsequently become agents of change. They promote mental well-being in young people as they face the realities of life and for positive health promotion among the adolescents. Life skills empower young people to take positive action to participate in their communities, engage in continuous learning, protect themselves and help in maintaining positive social relationships. The World Health Organization (WHO), considers life skills in the specific context of health and defines them as abilities that support adaptive and positive behaviours that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. Life skills are regarded as a cross cutting, interconnected and overlapping application of knowledge, values, attitudes and skills which are integral to dealing with all types of stress. They are a set universally applicable and contextual set of abilities, attitudes and socio-emotional competencies that enable individuals to learn, make informed decisions and exercise rights to lead a healthy and productive life and subsequently become agents of change.
There is an increasingly stronger focus on developing life skills in adolescents in India so that they are empowered to face different types of stress in their lives. In addition to academic, vocational, and technical skills, the focus is now on building those skills or competencies that are needed to meet the demands of the increasingly vulnerable situations of our diverse societies. They have attributes help them recognize their power and potential and take positive action to promote social inclusion, harmony and promote equal opportunities for all. There is evidence that psychosocial competencies, including resilience, self-awareness, critical thinking can enable young people to protect themselves from a multitude of vulnerable social environments and risk-taking behaviours. Given the positive correlation between life skills and learning outcomes, the role of life skills education within school curriculum and in the community becomes very important. UNICEF India has consolidated the efforts by various agencies to bring together a comprehensive framework on life skills that can be used to achieve a defined goal for individuals at specific age group across the life cycle.
The concept of life skills has acquired different meanings and connotations driven by varied interventions aimed at development of specific skills such as livelihood skills, technical skills, abilities, health, gender equality, leadership and others. Establishing baseline understanding of knowledge, skills and attitudes help the adolescents to be more purposeful not only when reinforcing life skills but also when applying such competencies to young people face stressful situations at pivotal moments across individual’s life. Basic life skills curriculum for youth is based on in evidence-based psychosocial methodology including cognitive-behavioural therapy, mindfulness and resilience-building activities. These skills can help teenagers understand themselves better, get along with others, and gain tools to cope with life’s inevitable difficulties.
Different Types of Life Skills
Different types of life skills are as follows:
1) Self-Awareness
This deals with knowing and living with oneself. It fosters the adolescent’s relationship and under- standing of themselves including their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
2) Interpersonal Skills
These skills help us in knowing and living with others. These explore how to establish healthy, respectful relationships, highlight the use of non-violent communication, assertiveness and dispute resolution.
3) Thinking Skills
These skills help in taking effective decisions. These include concrete ways of thinking and executing tasks so that the teenagers will make effective decisions, set relevant goals, and be informed consumers of information.
However, analysis of the life skills suggests that there is a core set of skills that are at the heart of skills-based initiatives for the promotion of the health and well-being of children and adolescents. These are decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationship skills, empathy, coping with emotions, coping with stress. Decision making helps the adolescents to deal constructively with decisions about their lives. Significant problems that are left unresolved can cause mental stress and give rise to physical strain. The creative thinking contributes to both decision making and problem solving by enabling them to explore the available alternatives and various consequences of their actions or non-action. Critical thinking is an ability to analyse information and experiences in an objective manner. It helps to recognise and assess the factors that influence attitudes and behaviour, such as values, peer pressure, and the media. Effective communication means that the adolescents will be able to express themselves, both verbally and non-verbally, in ways that are appropriate to our culture and situations. It may also mean being able to ask for advice and help in a time of need. Interpersonal relationship skills will help them to relate in positive ways with the people they interact with. They will be able to make and keep friendly relationships, which can be of great importance for their mental and social well-being. They will be able to maintain good relations with family members, which are an important source of social support. Self-awareness includes recognition of themselves, of their character, their strengths and weaknesses, desires and dislikes. Developing self-awareness will help them to recognise when they are stressed or feel under pressure. It is also often a prerequisite for effective communication and interpersonal relations, as well as for developing empathy for others. Empathy is the ability to imagine what life is like for another person, even in a situation that they may not be familiar with. Empathy will help the adolescent to understand and accept others who may be very different from them, which can improve social interactions. Coping with emotions involves recognising emotions in ourselves and others, being aware of how emotions influence behaviour, and being able to respond to emotions appropriately. Intense emotions, like anger or sorrow can have negative effects on health if one does not react appropriately. Coping with stress is about recognising the sources of stress in the lives of the teenagers, recognising how this affects them, and acting in ways that help to control their levels of stress. This may mean that they take action to reduce the sources of stress, for example, by making changes in their physical environment or lifestyle. This may also mean learning how to relax, so that tensions created by unavoidable stress do not give rise to health problems.
Resilience includes skills of coping with stress and dealing with emotions, perseverance, trust and relationship building. Empathy is built in as a part of interpersonal and participation skills. Self-awareness and critical thinking are important to successfully navigate educational opportunities and develop the skills, the adolescents need for the future. Self-awareness includes self-esteem, self-care and dignity affirmation; while critical thinking includes knowledge of rights and identification of unequal power relationships, amongst other related skills. Citizenship skills include specific skills from all the seven dimensions: communication, empathy, participation, critical thinking, problem solving, negotiation and decision making.
Stress Management
The adolescents must be counseled using effective coping and stress management techniques. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four as: avoid, alter, adapt or accept.
Dealing with Stressful Situations: The Four A’s
Change the Situation
• Avoid the stressor
• Alter the situation
• Change your reaction:
-Adapt to the stressor
-Accept the things that cannot change
Stress management strategies are as follows:
1) Avoid the Stressor
• The adolescents must eliminate unnecessary stress. Not all stress can be avoided, and it is not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. One may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in one’s life that can be eliminated.
• Learn how to say ‘no’. Whether in one’s personal or professional life, one should refuse to accept added responsibilities. Taking on more than one can handle, generates stress.
• If one gets upset over religion or politics, do not discuss them. Avoid topics which generate stress. If one repeatedly argues about the same subject with the same people, one should not bring it up or excuse oneself when it is the topic of discussion.
• One should analyze one’s schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If there is too much on the teen’s plate, distinguish between the ‘shoulds’ and the ‘musts’. Leave tasks that are not necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them completely.
These strategies are all related to life skills of self-awareness, problem – solving and critical thinking.
2) Alter the Situation
• Figure out what one can be done to change things so the problem is not there in the future. Often, this consists of changing the way one communicates and operates in our daily life.
• The adolescents must express their feelings instead of bottling them up. If something or someone is bothering them, they should communicate their concerns in an open and respectful way. If they do not voice their feelings, resentment will build up and the situation will remain the same.
• Be willing to compromise. When they ask someone to change their behaviour, they should be willing to do the same. If both are willing to bend at least a little, they will have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground.
• The adolescents should not take a backseat in their own life. Deal with problems head on, doing their best to anticipate and prevent them. If one has an exam to study for and one’s roommate wants to just discuss mundane things, one should tell that it is not possible to make polite conversation. They should be assertive.
• Poor time management can cause a lot of stress. When one is running behind schedule, it is very difficult to stay calm and focused. But if one plans ahead and makes sure one does have enough time to complete an assignment, the amount of stress will decrease.
3) Adapt to the Stressor
• If one cannot change the stressor, it is important to change ourselves. One can adapt to stressful situations and regain sense of control by changing expectations and have a positive attitude.
• The teenagers must try to view stressful situations from a more practical perspective. Rather than getting angry about a traffic jam, look at it as an opportunity to pause and regroup, listen to their favorite radio station, or enjoy some alone time.
• To be perfect in everything is not possible. One should stop setting oneself up for failure by demanding perfection. Reasonable standards should be set for oneself and others, and learn to be okay with ‘I am good enough’.
4) Accept the Things that Cannot Change
• Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control, particularly the behaviour of other people. Rather than stressing out over them, focus on the things one can control such as the way one chooses to react to problems.
• When facing major challenges, one should try to look at them as opportunities for personal growth. If our own poor choices contributed to a stressful situation, reflect on them and learn from our mistakes.
• Expressing what one is going through can be very cathartic, even if there is nothing one can do to alter the stressful situation. Talk to a trusted friend or make an appointment with a therapist.
• One should accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes. Let go out of anger and resentments. One should free oneself from negative energy by forgiving and moving on.
The adolescents can increase their resistance to stress by strengthening their physical health by:
- Physical activity plays a key role in reducing and preventing the effects of stress. About 30 minutes of exercise three times a week can do wonders. Nothing beats aerobic exercise for releasing pent-up stress and tension.
- Well-nourished bodies are better prepared to cope with stress, so one should be careful of what one eats. Start the day right with breakfast, and keep the energy up and mind clear with balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day.
- Reduce caffeine and sugar. The temporary relief caffeine and sugar provide often end in with a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks, chocolate and sugar snacks in the diet, one will feel more relaxed and sleep better.
- Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs may provide an easy escape from stress, but the relief is only temporary. So, they should avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. One should deal with problems head on and with a clear mind.
- Adequate sleep for about 6-8 hours fuels the mind, as well as the body. So, get enough sleep. Feeling tired will increase the stress because it may cause one to think irrationally.
- A study friendly environment should be created ensuring that the environment in which young people study is quiet, tidy and away from distractions as it will help with enhancing the concentration. Handing over phones or any other potential distractors before studying is also thought to be helpful.
5) Practicing Good Management
The impact of stressful events in the life of adolescents is highly influenced by their general state of physical and emotional health, how they perceive stressors, the strategies and the various life skills they use to manage them. At the school or college, poor vision of the objectives, poor self-management, misplaced priorities bring down many adolescents. It is important for them to understand and utilize time-management techniques to help to cope with demanding and stressful situations. The impact of unresolved stress may be manifested as depression, eating disorders, elimination disorders, suicidal behaviour and dissociative disorders, anxiety, poor concentration, aggression, physical illness, and substance abuse etc.
6) Setting Stage for Trustworthy Interaction
Our goal is to influence behaviour of adolescents and not to impose our views. During adolescence, teenagers experience rapid physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. Problems may arise because parents do not change their parenting style. Having a sense of control over their decisions and views is essential. Treating a teenager as a young child and not taking into account his intellectual growth and ability to think through a situation in a way that was not previously possible can belittle the teen and cause conflict. They are also seeking more independence. When they feel controlled, they rebel. Instead of mandating rules, including the teen in discussion of some rules can help them in learning to work through problems and arrive at solutions that may involve compromise. Remembering all the changes teenagers are going through and following these steps can improve the parent-teen relationship. The use of life skills of problem solving, time management, effective communication, creative and critical thinking can affect their decisions and mental well-being. Conclusion
Building life skills in children and adolescents and providing them with psychosocial support in schools and other community settings can help promote good mental health. A healthy lifestyle is essential for students, especially at university level. Stress is generally lower in people who maintain a healthy routine. Programmes to help strengthen the ties between adolescents and their families are also important. Organization is very important in academic life for dealing with stress. By keeping academic notes organized, turning in assignments on time, and keeping track of all deadlines, stress can be reduced to a great extent. Appropriate stress management techniques and use of life skills can play an important role in helping adolescents deal with day-to-day stress.
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