Being a parent to a teen isn’t easy. This is because teenagers who’re between adulthood and childhood exhibit unwanted behaviors such as open defiance, making risky choices, moodiness, and easy irritability. But while you shouldn’t be overly concerned when your child behaves like this during their teen years, when can you know that your teenager is dealing with behavioral issues?
This is a question many parents today are asking themselves. This is especially common today because adolescent behavioral issues such as anxiety disorder, depression, and oppositional defiant disorder, to name a few, are becoming very common. As an anxious parent, here are signs that your teen is struggling with behavioral issues.
- Sudden or Gradual Decline In Grades
If your teen’s academic performance slowly or suddenly plummets, this is no doubt a sure sign they’re struggling with some behavioral issues. The drop in academic performance is brought about by several reasons such as difficulty concentrating, skipping classes, or not completing the assignments. Some of the behavioral issues that might result in this waning academic performance include depression and anxiety.
- Poor Self-Esteem
You can also know your child is struggling with behavioral issues such as depression. This waning self-esteem might be caused due to your teenage child feeling that they aren’t as beautiful compared to others. As a result, they take more time preparing themselves to try and make themselves look beautiful, hence lovable.
Another sign of low self-esteem is when your child negatively reacts to criticism or puts themselves down. If your teenager is suffering signs of low self-esteem, you should constantly reassure them they’re worthy and loved. This will help them shun these negative feelings of depression, making them critical of themselves.
- Change In Sleeping Patterns
It’s a known fact that teenagers love sleeping, and each night they should rest between 8 to 10 hours to function optimally. But if your child suddenly shows a deviation from normal sleep patterns, this might be a child they’re suffering from behavioral problems. This happens when they start to either sleep more than normal or have difficulty falling asleep altogether.
Therefore, you need to closely observe your teenage child’s sleeping patterns to determine if their behavior is anything but normal. Some of the signs you should check out include;
- Daytime sleepiness
- Waking up late in the morning
- Sleeping very late into the night
These signs can be caused by anxiety which results in your teen becoming deprived of sleep. Consequently, this becomes a vicious cycle and can be a difficult habit to break, eventually affecting the teen’s mental and physical wellbeing.
- Extreme Mood Swings
Teenagers overreacting is expected as their bodies are going through tremendous hormonal changes, consequently affecting their behavior. But when your teenage child’s moods change all of a sudden, this is an evident sign that they’re indeed suffering from a behavioral problem. Anxiety is the most common reason this happens and might be caused by the imbalance of hormones and neurotransmitters. In addition, these mood swings causing your child to be easily irritable and agitated can also be caused by depression which causes dramatic changes in a teenager’s temperament.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
