Reducing Stress Levels Among Teenagers

Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: In the article, Laurence Steinberg is quoted as saying that “if kids believed intelligence was fixed, they would believe nothing could be done. But if you could change their belief to think that intelligence was malleable and incremental, their academic performance would improve.” Would knowing that intelligence is not a permanent condition have changed your academic or social behavior in high school? If so, how? If not, why not? Support your position with references to the article and to your own reading, observations, and experience. In his article titled Teaching Teenagers to Cope with Social Stress that appeared in the New York Times on September 29, 2011, Jan Hoffman tackles a topic which is often ignored, and yet its relevance seems obvious. He talks about teenager stress and the relevance of David S. Yeager’s research to this issue. Apparently, there is an easier way to deal with teenager stress which he summarizes by saying that the underlying message is that “People can change.” Instilling this message in the minds of teenagers can, according to David Yeager’s research help to lower stress levels among teenagers, lead to higher grades, and help to instill more confidence in teenagers. In the research, self-reporting online diaries, as well as cardiovascular and hormone measurements, were used in the collection of data. In the end, Hoffman reports that the results were positive for the students who were taken through this process. Apparently, letting students know that they can change and that their current situation is not permanent can help them calm down. This revelation is indeed revolutionary and while it has not yet been adopted and spread to high schools around the country, a remedy for teenager stress is indeed essential. I believe that my high school experience and teenage life would have been different had I been through such a program. Having someone tell me it will be okay or that everything will be fine would have indeed helped me to live a stress-free life. I had never thought of a...