KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA , NIT

SILCHAR

BIOLOGY INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT 2019-20
TOPIC – STRESS MANAGEMENT IN
TEENAGERS
NAME-SHIVANGI VERMA
CLASS- XII
REGISTER NO. -

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the investigatory project entitled …………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Submitted by …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Enrolment Number…………………………………………………..to Class………………………………

Biology CBSE examination for the award of AISSCE during the session 2021-22
under the guidance of Mr/Mrs/Miss………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

DATE: ……………………..

PLACE: ……………………..

SUBJECT TEACHER: PRINCIPAL:

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

CONTENT
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SL. NO TOPIC PAGE NO.
1. Acknowledgement 4
2. Objectives of this project 5
3. Introduction to stress 6
4. Teenagers and stress 7-8
5. Stress management for teenagers 9
6. Data interpretation and analysis 10-18
7. Conclusion 19
8. Appendix 20-21
9. References 22

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and
assistance from many people and I am extremely privileged to have got this all

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along the completion of my project. All that I have done is only due to such
supervision and assistance and I would not forget to thank them.

I respect and thank Principal of K.V N.I.T Silchar, for providing me this golden
opportunity to do the project work and giving us all support and guidance which
made me complete the project duly.

I owe my deep gratitude to our project guide Miss Lahari Nag (Biology
teacher)whose valuable guidance and suggestions has been the one that helped me
patch this project and make it full proof success .

I am thankful to and fortunate enough to get constant motivation from my parents

in my every steps.

I heartily thank my fellow friends for giving me the required information for my
survey work.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank each and everyone who directly or
indirectly helped me in completion of the project.

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 [source- pastoralcounceling.com]

OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT

1. To evaluate the level of stress among the teenagers.
2. The study aims to help teenagers get rid of stress.
3. To examine whether stress and stress management is important
4. To study the opinion of teenagers towards stress.
5. To study the status of stress in a teenager’s life .

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 INTRODUCTION TO STRESS
Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.
The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental and emotional responses.

When the term ‘stress’ is used in a clinical sense , it refers to a situation that causes
discomfort and distress for a person and can lead to other mental health problems
such as anxiety and depression .

Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. His view in 1956
was that “stress is not necessarily something bad it all depends on how you take it.
The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial , while that of
failure , humiliation or infection is detrimental.”

Selye believed that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced

irrespective of whether the situation was positive or negative. Stress is now viewed
as a “bad thing” with a range of harmful biochemical and long term effects.

The most commonly accepted definition of stress is mainly attributed to Richard S

Lazarus is that – stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person
perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is
able to mobilize”

[source- brainyquote.com]

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 TEENAGERS AND STRESS
Teens don’t have jobs or bills and aren’t raising a family , so teenagers don’t have
as much as stress as adults. Not true! Just as with adults , stress is an everyday part
of life for teenagers and for children. Yes they are young energetic but their lives
are also full of changes and challenges that an adult no longer have. The signs and
symptoms of stress are similar to those of an adult ,but the causes are totally
different and will require some differences in management. Because adolescents
are undergoing major physical and mental changes , their bodies and minds are
even more susceptible to major stressors. Example – feeling a little stress about a
test that’s coming up can motivate a child to study hard. But stressing out too
much over the test can make it hard to concentrate on the material the child need
to learn.

MAJOR CAUSES OF STRESS AMONG TEENAGERS

1. ACADEMIC ISSUES – Academic pressures are a major sources of stress for
teens. In addition to fulfill her/his own academic dreams , meeting parent’s
expectations can feel like a big weight to carry for a teen. Teens who don’t achieve
their full academic potential become frustrated when they receive poor or failing
grades. Similarly , teens who used to excel in their courses may feel disappointed
and distressed due to the same issues. They may worry about their future and
become overwhelmed when thinking about college and careers.

2. FAMILY LIFE – A teen is directly impacted by the issues that affect his family.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry shares that arguments
between parents, a strained relationship with parents or siblings , a sick or injured
family member and a change in a family’s financial status are common stressors in
a teen’s life. Even if a teen isn’t the cause of a family’s hardship, like financial
difficulties or a divorce, the events still affect his life.

3.SOCIAL PROBLEMS – During the teens year, young people begin to focus
more on their friends and social connections because of the emotional and social
development. A young person gains an increased social awareness and starts to
care more about how others feel and view of him / her. Helping a friend in
problems , bullying and peer pressure can add stress to a young person’s life.
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4. HORMONES – Puberty brings changes to the mind and body that can cause
sadness in some teens. The teenage years are characterized by a significant
increase in sex hormones. The hormonal shifts can cause emotional changes and
turmoil.

5.BUSY SCHEDULES- Juggling academics , family obligations , extracurricular

activities and relationships can feel like full-time job to many teens. Packed
schedules and not enough time to have fun can feel disappointing and lead to
distress , especially when teens need to make compromises between activities. And
many teens experience the health consequences of frenetic , jammed schedules ,
says Dr. Anisha Abraham, chief of adolescent medicine at Georgetown University
hospital in a 2008 interview with “The Washington Post.”

[ Source- stressmanagementblog.com]

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 STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR
TEENAGERS
Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at
controlling a person’s level of stress, especially chronic stress , usually for the
purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning.

Teens can decrease stress with the following behaviors and techniques:

 Exercise and eat regularly .

 Get enough sleep and have a good sleep routine.
 Avoid excess caffeine which can increase feelings of anxiety and agitation.
 Avoid illegal drugs, alcohol , and tobacco.
 Learn relaxation exercises, practice yoga.
 Develop assertiveness training skills. For example, state feelings in polite ,
firm , and not overly aggressive or passive ways.
 Rehearse and practice situations which cause stress.
 Learn practical coping skills. For example , break a large task into smaller,
more attainable tasks .
 Decrease negative self – talk : challenge negative thoughts – with alternative
, neutral or positive thoughts.
 Take a break from stressful situations. Activities like listening to music ,
talking to a friend, drawing , writing or spending time with beloved ones can
reduce stress.
 Building a network of friends who can help to cope up from stress in a
positive way.

By using these and other techniques , teenagers can begin to manage stress. If a
teen talks about or shows signs of being overly stressed , a consultation with a
child and adolescent psychiatrist or other qualified mental health professional may
be helpful.

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 DATA INTERPRETATION AND
ANALYSIS
I personally conducted a survey where I asked some questions related to their life
and stress. In this survey I got to know what stresses the students face the most and
why they suffer from stress , how they deal with stress and concluded a general
point of view of teenagers towards stress.

[source- brainyquote.com]

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1. Do the words like tension, anxiety, burden, pressure, hormonal changes,
expectations and unhappiness mean the same to you as stress?

OPTIONS NO. OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE

yes 28 56
no 9 18
May be 13 26
Total 50 100

Yes
NO
May be

56 % of teenagers think that words like tension, anxiety , burden , pressure,

hormonal changes , expectations and unhappiness defines stress for them. This
interprets that most of all the teens know about stress and are aware of it , whereas
about 22% of them are not sure out the definition of stress. Also 18% of the student
do not know what actually stress is.

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 2. As a teenager do you think your teenage life is stressed?
OPTIONS NO.OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
Yes 28 56
No 15 30
May be 7 14
TOTAL 50 100

Yes
No
May be

56% of the teenagers (i.e more than half of the teenagers) suffer from stress in their
teenage life. There are 14% of teenagers who are not sure whether or not they
suffer from stress. May be because they are not clear with the concept of what is
stress or some other reasons. At the same time , 30% of teenagers have admitted
that their life is not stressed.

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3. As a teenager what stresses you experience the most?

OPTIONS NO. OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE

Academic pressure 30 60
Peer pressure 0 0
Parental pressure 2 4
Financial pressure 0 0
Relationship 0 0
Future plans pressure 18 36
TOTAL 50 100

Academic pressure
Parental presure
Future plans pressure

60% of teenagers say that Academic stress is the stress which stresses the most
making this option as a highest rated option. Next to this,36% of teenagers feel
stress related to their future plans. They are more conscious about their career .
Only 4% of teens are under parental pressure. None of the teens are under peer
pressure, financial pressure, or stress related to relationship.

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4. Does your stress influence your health? How ?
OPTIONS NO. OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
Yes, I suffer from 10 15.1
weakness and dizziness
Yes, I have started eating 9 13.6
more/less
Yes, I am losing lots of 6 9.09
hair
Yes, I often get headache 12 18.1
and cramps
Yes, I sleep in excess/do 19 28.7
not get sleep
No, stress does not 10 15.1
affect my health
TOTAL 66 100

yes, I suffer from weakness and

dizziness
yes, I have started eating
more/less
yes , I am losing lots of hair
yes, I often get headache and
cramps
yes, I sleein excess/do not get
sleep
no, stress does not affect my
health

Maximum teenagers say that they sleep in excess or do not get sleep rating this
option with 28.7% . 18.1% of teens often get headache and cramps. Some of the
students about 15.1% suffer from weakness and dizziness. Stress has a great

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impact on the diet of some of the teens as 13.6% of them have started eating
more/less. Also , 9.09% of teens have started losing lots of hairs. On the other
side ,it is good to see that 15.1% of teens do not suffer from any health issues when
under stress.

5. What do you feel at that particular time when you are stressed?
OPTIONS NO. OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
Scared and feel like 10 20
crying
Restless and nervous 35 70
Locking yourself in a 3 6
room and shout
Feel like ending your 2 4
life/hurt yourself
Smoke or drink 0 0
TOTAL 50 100

scared and feel like crying

restless and nervous
locking yourself in a room and
shout
feel like ending your life/hurt
yourself

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70% of teenagers feel restless and nervous when under stress . 20% teenagers
feel scared and feel like crying. They feel nervous and scared during stress. At the
same time 6% of students feel like locking themselves in a room and shout. The
scary thing is that 4% students feel like ending their life and hurting themselves.
Thus, stress has a great impact upon teenagers. It is good to see that none of the
students smoke or drink under stress.

6. Do you think stress is important ?

OPTIONS NO.OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
Yes 5 10
No 4 8
May be /sometime 33 66
Not at all 8 16
TOTAL 50 100

Yes
No
May be/sometime
Not at all

Well, only 10% of teenagers think that stress is important.8% says it’s not
important whereas 66% of teenagers think that stress is important sometimes to
boost our performance if taken positively but rest 16% don’t feel the importance of
stress at all.

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7. What do you do to get rid of stress?

OPTIONS NO.OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE

Spending quality time with 21 24.7
friends, families, loved ones

Spending quality time alone 14 16.4

Practicing your hobby 15 17.6

Going for outing or trip 7 8.2
Yoga and 2 2.3
meditation/exercise
Listening to music 26 30.5
TOTAL 85 100

spending quality time with friends ,

families and loved ones

spending quality time alone

practicing your hobby

going for outing or trip

yoga and meditation/exercise

listening to music

Mostly 30.5% of teenagers like listening to music to reduce stress making this
option as a highest rated option as their stress buster. At the same time 24.7% of
teenagers also love to spend quality time with their family, friends , beloved ones
when they are under stress. They simply say that spending time with the people
they like is the best way to get rid of stress . 17.6% of teenagers like to practice

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their hobby when they are stressed like reading , dancing , painting , etc. to get rid
of it.16.4% of them like to spend time alone . 8.2 % love to go for outing or trip
and only 2.3% of teenagers opt for yoga and meditation as a way to reduce stress.

8. Do you think stress management is important ?

OPTIONS NO.OF RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
Yes, because it helps to 35 70
cope up from stress
No, because teenage is a 4 8
stress bearing age
anyway
May be at times 11 22
TOTAL 50 100

yes , because it helps to cope up

from stress

No, because teenage life is stress

bearing age anyway

May be at times

70% of teenagers favour stress management i.e maximum teenage crowd think
that stress management is important as it helps to cope up from stress whereas
8% of teenage crowd think that the duration of teenage is born to suffer stress
so, absence or presence of stress management does not matter and lastly 22% of
teenagers think that stress management is important sometime but not always.

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 CONCLUSION
From my above survey I am clearly able to conclude that maximum teenagers
suffer from stress. They even claim that they are a victim of stress.

Academic stress and future plan stress are the major stresses suffered by
teenagers. They are more conscious about their academic performance and
examinations. Also nowadays , in this competitive world teenagers are thinking
more about their future.

Maximum teenagers feel scared , restless, nervous and low on health and
confidence whenever they are stressed. They say that health wise they have
started developing headache, cramps, losing hair , lack of sleep or sleep in excess
during stress. Many said that they feel dizzy and lack of strength and stamina in
their body. This clearly shows that stress affects teenagers physically and
mentally. To avoid health issues among teens stress management is needed .

Well many teens are smart enough to tackle stress in their own way. As I got the
reviews out of my survey that teens under stress like listening to music , spend
time with their family , friends or loved ones mostly. If not they like practicing
their hobbies. Moreover many like spending quality time by themselves .

Today’s teenagers think that sometime stress is important to motivate them to

work harder and quicker if can be handled well.

Lastly , a conclusion comes out that stress management is important to cope up

from stress as today each and every teenage is falling into the trap of stress in
some or the other way.

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 APPENDIX
(QUESTIONNAIRE)
 INSTRUCTIONS: (1. Fill in the asked details about you correctly.
2. Please darken the bullets of your selected answer.)

Name-

Age-

Gender-

1. Do the words like tension, anxiety, burden, pressure, hormonal changes,

expectations and unhappiness mean the same to you as stress?
o Yes
o No
o May be
2. As a teenager do you think your teenage life is stressed?
o Yes
o No
o May be
3. As a teenager what stresses you experience the most? [please number the
following from 1-6 as per your choice and mention which one is highest stress in
the given space next to the option ]
o Academic pressure
o Peer pressure
o Parental pressure
o Financial pressure
o Relationship
o Future plans pressure

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4. Does your stress influence your health? How ?
o Yes, I suffer from weakness and dizziness
o Yes, I have started eating more/less
o Yes, I am losing lots of hair
o Yes, I often get headache and cramps
o Yes, I sleep in excess/do not get sleep
o No, stress doesn’t affect my health
5. What do you feel at that particular time when you are stressed?
o Scared and feel like crying
o Restless and nervous
o Locking yourself in a room and shout
o Feel like ending your life/hurt yourself
o Smoke or drink
6. Do you think stress is important ?
o Yes
o No
o May be / sometime
o Not at all
7. What do you do to get rid of stress?
o Spending quality time with friends, families, loved ones
o Spending quality time alone
o Practising your hobby
o Going for outing or trip
o Yoga and meditation/exercise
o Listening to music
8.Do you think stress management is important ?
o Yes, because it helps to cope up from stress
o No, because teenage is a stress bearing age anyway
o May be at times

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 REFERENCES
1. www.slideshare.net

2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org

3. www.aacap.org

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