Stress is directly related to the misconduct in teenagers today. Many believe that the rise in drug use and other behavioral problems in adolescents are due to society's inability to manage their adolescents (Benenson). They believe that a more strict view and more severe punishments would change how these teens behave. Parents set limits that seem reasonable in their eyes, but for some reason, they cannot get their teenager to follow through with their regulations. The teen years are said to be a difficult time in one's life. The changes of puberty and having to become a more responsible person are hard for many to go through. The stresses in society are often overwhelming for adolescents in this stage of life. School becomes a major factor in life. Many adolescents don't see school as one of the most important decisions that will shape their lives, but many do know that in order to make their parents happy, they need to get the grade their parents want them to achieve. This ties into whether or not they should finish their homework or go to a party they heard about. .
Adolescents rely on their peers for fun. They often use each other as a way to escape responsibilities they are not quite used to yet or are unwilling to accept. Also, the financial situation of their family affects how the teenager feels about school. With factors such as family income, new responsibilities, peer pressure, school, and parental limits, a teenager's life can easily become to stressful to handle by him or herself. In many cases, the teen turns to drug use, self-mutilation, or other similar behaviors to cope with the stresses in their lives. A parent's decision to become tough on their teen in order to get them to behave in a manner they want is more likely to have the opposite result. The stress put on adolescents from authority figures is the cause adolescent engagement in unhealthy behaviors. .
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Many mature adults mistake an adolescent's behavior as purely hormonal.
