13/07/2026
STRESS AND ITS GENESIS IN PARENT AND PEER RELATIONS- Part I
Reflecting on my previous writings in which I expounded on parenting styles and its relationship with criminal activities leading to the murder of our youths, I ponder on how stressful poor parenting, and even poor peer relationships, can weigh heavy on the minds of these young persons in believing that no one cares about their existence coupled with other stressful events that they themselves have no control over.
We as parents and guardians tend to be clueless of the internal state of a child, while wrongfully making remark such as: “what the hell can be stressing you when I am putting food on the table, clothes on your back, a shelter over your head and whatever else you may ask for?.” Bear in mind that these young people are existing in the same social space, enduring the same stressful economic climate, having to deal with peer pressures and facing even more sociobiological challenges than adults do.
More than eleven decades ago Stanley Hall (1904) describes adolescence as “storm and stress” meaning that this phase of life comes with an inherent characteristic that is universal and biological. Hence the reason for caregivers of children need to chart the way to this life stage, in youngsters. There is compelling evidence that the quality of family functioning in adolescents is based on the influential nature of stressors and in the development of a number of psychopathologies (Steinberg, 2001).
Therefore, all these challenges involve in the lives of these youths needs to be addressed in order to ensure that their growth and development is not stymied by stressful events and daily stressors.
Notwithstanding the individual differences in the way stress is perceived and processed during adolescence, there is a potential volatile nature of stress that can affect the less developed and late maturing cognitive control self-regulatory system as well as the social, cognitive and behavioural changes that occur during this critical period of adolescence.
