Psychologists develop a tool to help teens turn everyday stressors that could lead to anxiety and depression into a positive force instead.
鈥淎dolescents today are more stressed than ever, exhibiting record levels of stress-related internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety and depression,鈥� says , an associate professor of at the .
There are solid reasons for teens to worry. A global pandemic. War in Europe. Mass shootings, economic insecurity, and staggering college costs in the United States.
And then there are the ordinary, day-to-day stresses that teens have faced for generations, such as how they鈥檙e perceived by their peers, coaches, teachers, and potential romantic partners, and increasingly, how they鈥檙e faring in a competitive and demanding academic landscape.
Jamieson, who heads up Rochester鈥檚 , specializes in the study of these ordinary stressors, which he says have grown substantially with greater academic pressures, and even more so, with the rise of social media.
鈥淔or adolescents, social hierarchy, social comparisons, and peer evaluations have always been important, but now it鈥檚 there all the time,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople are receiving a daily stream of likes, dislikes, and comments via social media, which makes for a constant state of social evaluation. It鈥檚 one of the most damaging things we鈥檝e seen for adolescents.鈥�
While there are good reasons to limit one鈥檚 use of social media, peer evaluation is a fact of life, as are challenges in school and at work. And they all can bring on stress.
Conventional thinking often equates stress with something 鈥渂ad,鈥� but as Jamieson says, 鈥渟tress is a normal and even defining feature of adolescence鈥� that allows teens to acquire a wide variety of complicated social and intellectual skills as they transition to adulthood and eventually join the labor market.
鈥淔or those of us who study stress processes and psychophysiology, stress is just any demand for change鈥攊t鈥檚 neither good nor bad,鈥� he adds.
Yet, how we respond to stressful situations can lead us either to depression, or toward resilience.
30-minute module promotes two new, interrelated mindsets
That basic concept鈥攖hat how we respond to stress can weigh us down or help lift us up鈥攊nforms a training module developed and tested successfully by Jamieson and colleagues at the , , and the . (The researchers caution that the tool is not suitable for those whose stressors are the result of trauma or abuse.)
Takeaways for teens about stress responses
- High school is a time when experiences of difficulty, struggle, and frustration offer opportunities for personal growth.
- The stress that your body feels when you face those experiences is preparing you to learn from challenges.
- People who understand that the brain changes with learning鈥攁nd that the body鈥檚 stress responses facilitate learning鈥攁re better prepared to address the demands of high school.
- As you approach difficult challenges more often, things that used to be hard begin to feel easier. When something feels really difficult, your brain learns how to respond more effectively.
As the researchers explain in the journal , the 30-minute online training module teaches teenagers to channel their stress responses away from something 鈥渂ad鈥� that needs to be feared and tamped down toward recognizing those responses鈥攕weaty palms, a racing heart, for example鈥攁s a positive driving force.
The intervention works by helping teens develop what the researchers call two 鈥渟ynergistic mindsets.鈥�
One, a growth mindset, is the idea that one鈥檚 intelligence can be developed in response to a challenge. It鈥檚 鈥渂asically the belief that intellectual ability is not fixed but can be developed with effort, effective strategies, and support from others,鈥� Jamieson says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the idea that if I push myself, I can grow, I can learn, I can improve, and I can push through difficulties.鈥�
The other is what the researchers call a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset. It鈥檚 the idea that one鈥檚 stress responses not only are not harmful, but can also actually fuel a person鈥檚 performance in challenging situations. Sweaty palms, a racing heart, and deeper breathing, for example, are physiological changes that 鈥渕obilize energy and deliver oxygenated blood to the brain and tissues,鈥� Jamieson says.
The module presents these two mindsets as part of a single process. The growth mindset trains teens to embrace rather than avoid the difficulties of a situation, while the stress-can-be-enhancing mindset encourages them to lean into their physiological stress responses and use them to meet the challenge head on.
The researchers show over the course of six double-blind, randomized experiments, conducted in both laboratory and field settings with a total of 4,291 young people (students in grades 8鈥�12 and college undergraduates), that the intervention improves the participants鈥� stress-linked health outcomes, such as biological responses, psychological well-being, anxiety symptoms during COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as academic performance.
Says Jamieson, 鈥淭hese combined messages got the teenagers in our studies to view stressors as things that could be overcome, rather than as something overwhelming and outside their control.鈥�
Key findings plus next steps for addressing stress in teens
The data showed that the synergistic mindsets intervention resulted in:
- Improved physiological responses to stress, including increased delivery of oxygenated blood to the brain and body, and a faster return to the body鈥檚 homeostasis after a challenging event
- Improved psychological well-being (people felt liked, powerful, satisfied, good about themselves, had higher self-esteem, and didn鈥檛 feel rejected, insecure, or disconnected)
- Reduced negative self-regard, an internalizing symptom that can lead to depression
- Lower cortisol levels, a hormonal indicator of threat-type stress responses
- Higher academic achievement (measured in pass rates for core classes)
- Lower anxiety symptoms
鈥淣ow that we know that it works, we鈥檙e working on scaling it up,鈥� Jamieson says. 鈥淲e know that the biggest changes occur in those who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, experience more day-to-day stressors, and are lower-achieving, academically.鈥� The next step would be large-scale trials.
鈥楽tress can be useful. That鈥�s a really big, novel idea for a lot of people.鈥�
Most of us know that the stress we feel is an evolutionary adaptation. But we tell ourselves that a trigonometry test does not pose the same threat as a hungry lion headed in our direction. So, the message is that the stress is irrational, and we should somehow get rid of it.
But that鈥檚 the wrong message, says Jamieson.
At a basic level, the module is about 鈥渢eaching people about how stress can be useful. That鈥檚 a really big, novel idea for a lot of people. Stress is typically not seen as something that is beneficial and adaptive, it鈥檚 seen as something that鈥檚 damaging. We鈥檙e really trying to work against that misconception.鈥�
Instead the teens in the experiments who used the module learned a bit about how the brain works, and that when you learn, you actually change the physiological structure of your brain through engaging with difficult challenges.
鈥淭he harder you work, the better you become at different tasks,鈥� says Jamieson, including meeting a host of life鈥檚 challenges with resilience.
The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the Google Empathy Lab, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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