Are Today’s Teens More Anxious?

It seems that way, doesn’t it? Survey after survey point to an increase in anxiety rates in U.S. children and teenagers. Educators report seeing more students with 504 plans for students with anxiety disorders and anecdotally, will share that a large number of their students use phrases like, “I have anxiety.”

Let’s pause for a moment and look back at that statement: “I have anxiety.” It sounds quite permanent, doesn’t it? I remember growing up and proudly boasting that I have four older brothers. When it comes to eye color, my wife has blue eyes. I am going out on a limb here and wondering in writing if we experience anxiety, not so much have it. When anxiety is acknolwedged as an experience, it is temporary…to believe that one has it implies permanence and perhaps, a defeatist apporach.

When I deliver parent presentations or engage with teachers and counselors in professional development, this phrase comes up and I’ll often hold a bag, indicating that I have something, that I am carrying around this anxiety with me. The reality is that anxiety is normal, normative and appropriate, at times. It is a wonderful survival mechanism that helps the body flee from danger or a teacher that tells us we might not be as well prepared for an exam as we’d like to be. If you are alive, you have gone through moments of anxiety and some longer than others.

When we start to see anxiety as temporary, it might begin to feel more like an emotion, “energy-in-motion.” When there’s a cortisol spike related to a perceived threat/danger, that surge must move through our bodies and it will decrease, the anxiety will pass. This tidbit of information is often one of many educational tools used for people who have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder - and it holds true for anyone who experiences anxiety.

So, when we think about current adolescents, known today in the US as the youngest members of Gen Z and oldest member of Alpha Gen, they report that they’re anxious about school shootings, climate change, cyberbullying, among others things. Millenials were anxious about Y2K and terrorism, Gen X feared AIDS and Boomers, nuclear war. Do they have more things to be anxious about? The fact is that while I did drill for a nuclear attack, that never happened, but middle schoolers practice lockdowns and shelter-in-place drills as school shootings increase in the US.

Perhaps the question we should ask is not, “are today’s teens more anxious?” Perhaps we should ask, are we helping our teens with their resiliency skills and empowering them with the tools necessary to cope with stressors?