Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes.
People with Zika virus disease can have symptoms including mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.
Feeling like there are too many pressures and demands on you? Losing sleep worrying about tests and schoolwork? Eating on the run because your schedule is just too busy? You're not alone.
Everyone experiences stress at times — adults, teens, and even kids. But there are ways to minimize stress and manage the stress that's unavoidable.
On the year 2013, the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America survey found that Millennials, aged 18-33, were the country’s most-stressed generation. Now, the title belongs to an even younger demographic: American teenagers.
Even before the pressures of work and adulthood set in, for most young Americans, stress has already become a fact of daily life. And this sets the stage early for unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle choices that may increase the risk of developing stress-related health problems down the road.
American teenagers are now the most stressed-out age group in the U.S., according to APA’s 2013 Stress In America survey. While adults rate their stress at a 5.1 on a 10-point scale, teens rate their stress levels at 5.8.
This year’s report, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of APA, consisted of 1,950 adults and 1,018 teens in the U.S. in August 2013.
Here are some of the survey’s biggest findings about teens and stress:
Teens report that their stress level during the school year (5.8/10) far exceeds what they believe to be a healthy level of stress (3.9/10).
31 percent of teens report feeling overwhelmed as a result of stress, 30 percent say that they feel sad or depressed as a result of stress, and 36 percent report feeling tired or fatigued because of stress.
Only 16 percent of teens say their stress levels have declined in the past year, while 31 percent say their stress has increased in the past year.
Yet teens are more likely than adults to report that stress has no effect on their physical health (54 percent) or their mental health (52 percent).
42 percent of teens say that they’re either not doing enough to manage their stress or they’re not sure if they’re doing enough.
Teenagers, like adults, may experience stress everyday and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience more stress when they perceive a situation as dangerous, difficult, or painful and they do not have the resources to cope. Some sources of stress for teens might include:
school demands and frustrations
negative thoughts and feelings about themselves
changes in their bodies
problems with friends and/or peers at school
unsafe living environment/neighborhood
separation or divorce of parents
chronic illness or severe problems in the family
death of a loved one
moving or changing schools
taking on too many activities or having too high expectations
family financial problems
Some teens become overloaded with stress. When it happens, inadequately managed stress can lead to anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping skills such as drug and/or alcohol use.
When we perceive a situation as difficult or painful, changes occur in our minds and bodies to prepare us to respond to danger. This "fight, flight, or freeze” response includes faster heart and breathing rate, increased blood to muscles of arms and legs, cold or clammy hands and feet, upset stomach and/or a sense of dread.
The same mechanism that turns on the stress response can turn it off. As soon as we decide that a situation is no longer dangerous, changes can occur in our minds and bodies to help us relax and calm down. This "relaxation response” includes decreased heart and breathing rate and a sense of well being. Teens that develop a "relaxation response” and other stress management skills feel less helpless and have more choices when responding to stress.
Teens’ habits around sleep, exercise and technology (the average teen consumes an average of 7.5 hours of media per day) may play a role in contributing to higher stress levels. More than one in three teens says that stress has kept him up at night in the past month. But most teens aren’t sleeping enough to begin with: The average teen sleeps 7.4 hours on a school night (far less than the 9-10 hours recommended by the CDC), the APA survey found. The survey also found that one in five teens reports exercising less than once a week or not at all, despite the proven stress-relieving benefits of physical activity.
The negative health effects of lack of sleep and too much screen time for teens could be significant. Teens who don’t get enough sleep are four times as likely as well-rested teens to develop major depressive disorder, according to a recent University of Texas study, while teens who are already depressed are more likely to lose sleep. Teens who spend a lot of time on the Internet are also as likely to exhibit depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts as teens who misuse drugs and skip school, according to a recent Swedish study.
Parents, who may be a source of stress for teens — research has suggested that adults pass stress down to their children — can also be part of the solution.
As a parent of a stressed out teenager, you may be wondering where you can go for help or even if you should get help.
Your first step is to be watchful for the signs of stress overload. If your teenager withdraws into their own world, is aggressive, becomes ill because of stress, becomes suicidal and/or turns to drugs or alcohol, you need to get help. Doctors, counselors, teachers, and religious professionals can all play a role in helping the teenager find the needed help to get over their stress.
But sometimes the warning signs of stress are not as apparent.
Here are some ways and techniques you should use when trying to understand your teenager’s level of stress and condition:
Be encouraging and positive, talk with them and reach out to them.
Listen carefully to teens and watch for overloading
Be aware of your own stress levels. Sometimes that is what is upping their stress.
Be understanding and don’t put their problems down.
Monitor if stress is affecting their teen's health, behavior, thoughts, or feelings
Learn and model stress management skills
Support involvement in sports, other pro-social activities and other extracurricular activities to promote healthy outlets to your teen’s stress.
Seek outside help if needed. Do not make any agreement to just keep it between you and your teen. Sometimes you will find out information about your teen that is just too much for you to deal with. Make sure to get outside help if needed.
A huge part of monitoring your teenager’s stress level constant communication. Listen and take your teen’s problems seriously. Pay attention to what your teen is saying.
Here are some techniques for listening to your teenager:
Use active listening making sure your teen talks more than you do.
Gather information by asking pointed questions.
Be encouraging and positive.
Make sure you have time to talk before you start.
Avoid “yes” or “no” answerable questions.
Show interest in specific things in their life.
Reflect in your answers that you are understanding what they are communicating.
Summarize at the end to make sure everything you have heard is clearly understood.
Teens can decrease stress with the following behaviors and techniques:
Exercise and eat regularly
Avoid excess caffeine intake which can increase feelings of anxiety and agitation
Avoid illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco
Learn relaxation exercises (abdominal breathing and muscle relaxation techniques)
Develop assertiveness training skills. For example, state feelings in polite firm and not overly aggressive or passive ways: ("I feel angry when you yell at me” "Please stop yelling.”)
Rehearse and practice situations which cause stress. One example is taking a speech class if talking in front of a class makes you anxious
Learn practical coping skills. For example, break a large task into smaller, more attainable tasks
Decrease negative self talk: challenge negative thoughts about yourself with alternative neutral or positive thoughts. "My life will never get better” can be transformed into "I may feel hopeless now, but my life will probably get better if I work at it and get some help”
Learn to feel good about doing a competent or "good enough” job rather than demanding perfection from yourself and others
Take a break from stressful situations. Activities like listening to music, talking to a friend, drawing, writing, or spending time with a pet can reduce stress
Build a network of friends who help you cope 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 qualified mental health professional may be helpful.
About 16 million women 15–19 years old give birth each year, about 11% of all births worldwide.
Ninety-five per cent of these births occur in low- and middle-income countries. The average adolescent birth rate in middle income countries is more than twice as high as that in high-income countries, with the rate in low-income countries being five times as high.
The proportion of births that take place during adolescence is about 2% in China, 18% in Latin America and the Caribbean and more than 50% in sub-Saharan Africa.
Half of all adolescent births occur in just seven countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and the United States.
Teen Pregnancy in the United States
In 2014, a total of 249,078 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years, for a birth rate of 24.2 per 1,000 women in this age group. This is another historic low for U.S. teens and a drop of 9% from 2013. Birth rates fell 11% for women aged 15–17 years and 7% for women aged 18–19 years.
Although reasons for the declines are not clear, more teens may be delaying or reducing sexual activity, and more of the teens who are sexually active may be using birth control than in previous years.
Still, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist.
Many young people engage in sexual risk behaviors that can result in unintended health outcomes. For example, among U.S. high school students surveyed in 2015
41% had ever had sexual intercourse.
30% had had sexual intercourse during the previous 3 months, and, of these
43% did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
14% did not use any method to prevent pregnancy.
21% had drunk alcohol or used drugs before last sexual intercourse.
Only 10% of sexually experienced students have ever been tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).*
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*CDC recommends all adolescents and adults 13-64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine medical care.
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Sexual risk behaviors place adolescents at risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy:
Young people (aged 13-24) accounted for an estimated 22% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States in 2014.
Among young people (aged 13-24) diagnosed with HIV in 2014, 80% were gay and bisexual males.
Half of the nearly 20 million new STDs reported each year were among young people, between the ages of 15 to 24.
Nearly 250,000 babies were born to teen girls aged 15–19 years in 2014.
27% of women ages 15 to 17 report having ever had sex. This infographic shows 3 bar charts representing women ages 15 to 17 who report having ever had sex.
Age 15: Teens who have ever had sex, 15%. Teens who are currently sexually active, 8%.
Age 16: Teens who have ever had sex, 29%. Teens who are currently sexually active, 17%.
Age 17: Teens who have ever had sex, 39%. Teens who are currently sexually active, 30%.
Although adolescents aged 10-19 years account for 11% of all births worldwide, they account for 23% of the overall burden of disease (disability- adjusted life years) due to pregnancy and childbirth.
Fourteen percent of all unsafe abortions in low- and middle-income countries are among women aged 15–19 years. About 2.5 million adolescents have unsafe abortions every year, and adolescents are more seriously affected by complications than are older women.
In Latin America, the risk of maternal death is four times higher among adolescents younger than 16 years than among women in their twenties.
Many health problems are particularly associated with negative outcomes of pregnancy during adolescence. These include anaemia, malaria, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, postpartum haemorrhage and mental disorders, such as depression.
Up to 65% of women with obstetric fistula develop this as adolescents, with dire consequences for their lives, physically and socially.
Adolescent pregnancy is dangerous for the child
Stillbirths and death in the first week of life are 50% higher among babies born to mothers younger than 20 years than among babies born to mothers 20–29 years old.
Deaths during the first month of life are 50–100% more frequent if the mother is an adolescent versus older, and the younger the mother, the higher the risk.
The rates of preterm birth, low birth weight and asphyxia are higher among the children of adolescents, all of which increase the chance of death and of future health problems for the baby.
Pregnant adolescents are more likely to smoke and use alcohol than are older women, which can cause many problems for the child and after birth.
Many girls who become pregnant have to leave school. This has long-term implications for them as individuals, their families and communities.
Studies have shown that delaying adolescent births could significantly lower population growth rates, potentially generating broad economic and social benefits, in addition to improving the health of adolescents.
The Importance of Prevention
Teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children.
In 2010, teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.
Pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school.
The children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and to drop out of high school, have more health problems, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, give birth as a teenager, and face unemployment as a young adult.
These effects continue for the teen mother and her child even after adjusting for those factors that increased the teenager’s risk for pregnancy, such as growing up in poverty, having parents with low levels of education, growing up in a single-parent family, and having poor performance in school.
Having youth-friendly reproductive health visits for teens
To reduce sexual risk behaviors and related health problems among youth, schools and other youth-serving organizations can help young people adopt lifelong attitudes and behaviors that support their health and well-being—including behaviors that reduce their risk for HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy calls for all Americans to be educated about HIV. This includes knowing how HIV is transmitted and prevented, and knowing which behaviors place individuals at greatest risk for infection. HIV awareness and education should be universally integrated into all educational environments.
Abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method for avoiding unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Teens—especially young teens—should be encouraged to delay sexual initiation. Educators should acknowledge the importance of abstinence and provide youth with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to make abstinence work. However, even youth who pledge to remain abstinent need information about contraception and condoms to help them prevent unintended pregnancy, HIV and other STIs when they do become sexually active.
The correct and consistent use of male latex condoms can reduce the risk of STD transmission, including HIV infection. However, no protective method is 100% effective, and condom use cannot guarantee absolute protection against any STD or pregnancy.
Supporting states in efforts to reduce pregnancies, births, and abortions among teens.
Working to improve the health and social well-being of teens to reach the Healthy People 2020 national objective to reduce pregnancy in teens ages 15-17.
Doctors, nurses, and other health care providers can
Encourage teens to delay sexual activity.
Encourage sexually active teens to consider the most effective reversible methods of birth control. Refer to CDC guidelines.
Talk about using condoms correctly every time during sex to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, even if another birth control method is used.
Discuss normal physical, emotional, and sexual development with teens and parents.
Normal sexual development, and how and when to say "no" to sex.
Having a mutually respectful and honest relationship.
Using birth control if they have sex and a condom every time.
Know where their teens are and what they are doing, particularly after school.
Be aware of their teen's use of social media and digital technology (e.g., cell phones, computers, tablets).
Younger teens can
Know both they and their partner share responsibility for preventing pregnancy and resisting peer pressure to start having sex until they are older.
Talk openly about sexual health issues with parents, other adults they trust, and their friends.
See a health care provider to learn about the most effective types of birth control and use it and condoms correctly every time.
School can
School health programs can help youth adopt lifelong attitudes and behaviors that support overall health and well-being—including behaviors that can reduce their risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy prevention programs in schools should
Address the needs of youth who are not having sex as well as youth who are currently sexually active.
Ensure that all youth are provided with effective education to protect themselves and others from HIV infection, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy.
Be developed with the active involvement of students and parents.
Be locally determined and consistent with community values and relevant policies.
