Essay Example on Teen Depression: A Serious Mental Health Issue

Introduction

Stress is part and parcel of life. From time to time, people will experience stress regardless of their age. However, too much stress leads to depression which may not be good for someone’s health and well-being. For some time now, teenager depression has become a serious mental health issue that has resulted in persistent feelings of being sad and losing interest in engaging in any kind of activity. Depression usually impacts the way teenagers think, behave and feel about themselves. It can lead to physical, emotional and functional problems. As stated earlier, depression affects everyone regardless of age, but it affects teenagers more than adults. Many issues such as academic expectations, physical and emotional changes of the body and peer pressure lead to a lot of highs and lows for teenagers resulting in increased levels of stress which if not controlled lead to depression. Although teenagers experience ups and downs as they grow, in some, the lows are more than just temporary feelings, and this is what results to depression. In order for parents and other adults in the society to aid teenagers deal with depression, they should understand the causes and effects of depression on the teenagers.

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Loss of Loved Ones

Loss of loved ones is a significant contributor to depression. Any life event that involves loss is associated with depression. According to evidence, how life events cause depression can be explained in two ways (Burns et al. 93). The first one argues that there is a close and direct relationship between adversity and the onset of depression. More sensitive individuals to the life stress effects, and persons who are depressed are at a higher risk of experiencing more life stressors which result in higher levels of depression. The second explanation of how loss is associated with depression has mechanisms that would intervene in negative life events minimizing the chances of one experiencing depression. This explains why some teenagers who experience adversity do not develop depression (Burns et al., 93). The cognitive characteristics of a person can also influence how one interprets negative life events. For instance, a person who has experienced more negative events may perceive himself or herself as unlucky and therefore whatever happens to them becomes just normal. However, in teenagers, loss of the people they love and other life-changing events increase the levels of depression.

Divorce and Parental Depression

The second factor that causes depression in teenagers is divorce and parental depression. Although divorce may be something that parents and young adults within a family can cope and successfully manage, it presents a difficult situation for teenagers who find it difficult to adjust. Both physical, mental and emotional changes of the teenagers make it to be difficult to transition, and this rigidity in making adjustments is what leads to depression. According to Erikson, from puberty to adulthood, teenagers usually struggle with identity and role confusion even in a normal circumstance (Dunkel & Harbke 59). This situation becomes even worse when the parents of the teenagers separate as it increases the role of confusion and inability to find an identity. The adolescent stage of development is an important stage of life where security is essential for the development of desired attributes. However, with separation of parents, the security wades away, and teenagers are confused whether they need to grow fast and move out of their homes, or they need to grow slower and remain at home. Divorce can result in parental depression of one of the two parents. Evidence shows that children whose parents are depressed are four times likely to experience depression than those whose parents are not depressed (Burns et al. 93). This effect even becomes worse in teenagers as they grow, seeing their parents depressed, and with time, they also become depressed. Increased depressed in teenagers’ results in attempts of suicide because adolescents usually lack strong self –control to manage their emotions, and therefore, they can easily commit suicide. Research shows that maternal depression affects teenagers girls more than boys, and paternal depression has little or no effect on either male or female teenagers (Uber et al. 179). One of the many things that can lead a teen into depression is some of the small encounters that happen in a teenager's household. Teenagers tend to learn patterns of behavior. Being around negative or unhealthy behavior like depressed parents, most of the day can become part of their daily routine. For example, if one’s parents are always showing how much they are struggling to make ends meet or if one is always seeing his or her parents fight with each other, as a young teenagers, you may begin to think that is normal and become a custom to thinking negatively or thinking life is harder than it is. The simplest problems now become life-changing events because of the fact of not learning how to find simple solutions to life's many challenges. This also can cause a teenagers not to speak when they need help because they do not want to add to their parent's stress or be a burden. When a teenagers is silent, and it seems that nobody cares to figure what is wrong with them, it can cause them to bottle up the problems they have inside and keep them to themselves, which is unhealthy for a person to do. It can make a teenagers feel like their problems are not worth listening to or not important enough to acknowledge they are even happening. These little things can cause a teenagers to do things such as staying in their rooms all day not wanting to communicate with anyone and isolating themselves to not feel like they are irritating anyone with their mood.

Low Self-Esteem

Low self-esteem is another significant contributor to teenagers’ depression. According to Twenge (2020), children who perceive themselves as being physically, mentally, socially and academically incompetent are likely to experience depression than those teenagers who perceive themselves as competent in almost every facet of their life (90). The perceptions of incompetence or competence develop from childhood and early teenage and then grow according to the peers’, teachers’ and parents’ evaluations as well as the negative events that the teenager has experienced as they continue to grow. Research shows that moderating factors which help one to deal with negative events do not emerge until late teenage or early adulthood, and that is why teenagers with low self-esteem find it difficult to deal with negative events, and thus developing depression (Twenge 90). Lack of social skills has also been associated with depression and other psychological problems in children, teenagers and adults. According to Burns (2012), social perceptions on peer acceptance, self-efficacy and social competence lead to the instances of depression in people, and this happens to a greater extent in teenagers than in any other age group (94). However, high social competence act as a protector in teenagers who always have increased risks of depression, which mainly result from negative life events. Although schools are essential in the development of teenagers, they can act as a source of negative life events in adolescents leading to depression in teenagers. Poor academic performance, coupled with the teenagers' perception that they have low competence, contribute to school-related depression that leads to poor school engagement and other school-related stress.

Poor Peer Relationships

The last factor that causes depression in teenagers is peer relationships. According to research, peer relationships are essential in the cognitive, emotional and social development of children or teenagers (Uba et al. 179). The relationship between a child and another affects self-esteem levels and thus significantly determine whether a child will have high self-esteem or low self-esteem. According to Uber et al. (2020), in real life, performing well in schools and other good classroom attributes are not so important during social and cognitive development of a child or a teenagers (179). The most important thing for a child is the ability to get along with all other children without limitation. Therefore, peer acceptance is the most important thing for children and teenagers as it determines the self-esteem of the teenager, which is integral to a teenager's ability to deal with negative life events. Therefore, teenagers who have low peer acceptance, are disliked by other teenagers who to some extent are aggressive and disruptive. Those who cannot even maintain good relationships with those around them usually do not have a place in other teenagers’ lives, and thus they struggle to establish themselves in the culture of peers, and as a result, they are vulnerable to depression. A teenager who does not have friends will always be isolated and unhappy, which result in low self-esteem and low academic achievement in school. Low-self-esteem and poor academic achievement have been seen as some of the factors that contribute to depression in teenagers. This shows that peer relationships are as important as parent relationships as lack of friends lead to loneliness and other related psychological problems that lead to depression. If a teenager fails to establish meaningful relationships, they start indulging themselves into drugs and taking alcohol as a way of coping with loneliness, stress and depression. They spend most of their time alone and therefore, the only thing they can do is to take drugs so that they can stay 'cool', and this is what keeps them excited. Continued use of drugs leads to addiction, and in such a case, a teenager may start rebelling against their parents, teachers and even the police in an attempt to continue with their habit of abusing drugs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, depression in teenagers can harm their health and well-being, especially if they endure it for a long time. Therefore, whenever a teenager shows symptoms of depression, there is a need for necessary measures to be taken to help the teenager deal with depressive events. Low self-esteem is the main contributor of depression in teenagers, and therefore, parents and anyone involved should take the necessary steps to increase resilience and boost the self-esteem of their teenagers to be able to deal with any issue that may arise. Teenagers also need to be advised on how they can reach to friends for social support whenever they are facing negative life events. If the depression continues for a long time, parents can seek treatment from experts to help their teenagers recover. If teenagers can get the necessary support in deal with depressive events, then they would be able to live a normal life like adults. However, if the teenagers are left to deal with negative life events, then depression may overwhelm them and have a long-term mental, social and emotion effect. Peer relationships should always be embraced in teenagers, and also parents should avoid cases of separation, domestic or showing that there is any struggle in making the ends meet.

Works Cited

Burns, Jane M., Gavin Andrews, and Marianna Szabo. "Depression in young people: what causes it and can we prevent it?" Medical Journal of Australia 177 (2012): S93-S96. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04864.x. Accessed 1 July 1, 2020.

Dunkel, C. S., & Harbke, C. (2017). A review of measures of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development: Evidence for a general factor. Journal of Adult Development, 24(1), 58-76. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10804-016-9247-4.pdf. Accessed 1 July 1, 2020.