They Say: Kids Need To Be Taught To Handle School Stress

Could teens who turn to drugs and alcohol just be plain old stressed?

A new study out of Britain states thirty-six percent of kids who were stressed about exams, peer relationships and the volume of homework turned to drinking to drown their sorrows. Another sixteen percent smoked cigarettes, while six percent used drugs to make the stress go up in a puff of smoke.

The study, presented at the British Psychological Society’s Division of Educational and Child Psychology annual conference, focuses on stress; but I wonder how much time they spent examining these kids’ home lives. Because school is stressful; and not just because of the pressure of impending university applications but because it’s the time when hormones are starting to drive every child a little bit loony!

But handling school stress and turning to drugs are two different things. Where are these kids’ parents? I know that’s often the response when anyone talks about kids on drugs or using alcohol… but that makes it no less of an obvious. I run the risk of sounding like an old fogey here, but in my day, when we started drinking, we did it as much because we could get away with it as we did for any sound psychological reasons. Who answered, “Hey, want a beer and some Skittles?” with “yeah, my teachers are really riding me?”

In university, maybe. But in high school, we didn’t sit around moaning about exam scores when we were drinking. So are kids actually more stressed? Or are they suffering a lack of parental intervention in their lives… which could translate into stress and give them the free time to indulge in vices that more-involved parents are able to weed out?

Image: NPR