Table 2 Developmental challenges and interactions with contextual factors causing stress in adolescents
From: “It is like a mind attack”: stress and coping among urban school-going adolescents in India
Developmental challenges (sub-themes) | Salient domains in adolescents’ ecological environment | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Family | Peer | School | Community/ neighborhood | |
Academic pressure | High expectations; punishment for poor exam performance; insecurity regarding future career prospects. | Competition to perform well. | Excessive homework; punishment for poor exam performance; lack of guidance to improve exam performance. | Social constructions of ‘success’ that emphasise exam performance in order to progress into high-status professions. |
Romantic relationships | Disapproval of romantic relationships and consequent punishment (especially for females). | Interpersonal problems stemming from relationships, including distress from break-ups and teasing from others. | Disapproval of romantic relationships. | Social derogation of romantic relationships. |
Negotiating autonomy | Limits on how students are permitted to spend their time; parental control over career choices. | Challenges of connecting with others and gaining peer acceptance, while resisting deviant peer influences. | Restrictions on selection of subjects and limits on choices for vocational growth, especially in ‘non-academic’ fields such as sports and arts. | Restrictive social norms requiring adolescents to abide by family and school expectations. |
Safety / victimization | Harsh/physical discipline directed at adolescents; exposure to domestic violence between parents (linked to paternal alcohol use); sexism and gender discrimination against girls, including lower access to material and financial resources and greater burden of household chores. | Bullying. | Corporeal punishment from teachers; lack of support to deal with bullying from peers. | Violence and sexual harassment (of females by males). |