The Inevitability of Angst

In Britain, as many as 900 000 teenage girls described themselves as unhappy and depressed, and there is evidence that they have become more miserable over the past three years. This is in fact because of teenage angst, a feeling of anxiety about your life or situation. Not to mention, research shows that twiceas many girls are suffering as boys. This also leads them to unhealthy lifestyles, which includes skipping meals to lose weight, as well as drinking and smoking. In general, this begins as you transition from childhood to adulthood, which is known as coming of age.

 When you’re young, you feel like you can do anything. That’s because you don’t care what anyone else thinks of you. For example, in grade five, I painted my face instead of my canvas in art class because I was pretending to be a makeup artist. In grade six, every Friday after school I went to Dairy Queen and ordered a large Brownie Batter Blizzard and ate it all up in minutes. Back then, I didn’t care how embarrassing or ridiculous I looked. I also didn’t care how fattening my ice cream was, as long as I enjoyed it. In the end, all that mattered was that I was having fun. However, as a teenager, I began to care what others thought of me. Evidently, teenage girls are very anxious about their appearance. I stopped eating some of the foods that I loved because I didn’t want to gain weight. I needed to be skinny even though I didn’t like exercising or eating healthy food. I constantly felt pressured to dress the right way, say the right thing, and act the right way. However, it’s too much to juggle all at once.

A stressed teenage girl

Not to mention, teenagers also suffer peer pressure and angst to have sex earlier than ever before. Kimberley Walsh, singer of Girls Aloud, revealed: "As a teenager, I felt the pressure to have sex to an extent where I felt like: 'Oh God, maybe I should have done it by now'." This is also demonstrated in Heather O’Neill’s novel Lullabies for Little Criminals, where the protagonist Baby has sex with her pimp although it’s clear that she doesn’t feel comfortable at thirteen years old. She says: “I got funny when Alphonse wanted to make love. I curled up, got under the sheets, and crawled all the way to the bottom of the bed. He yanked me back up and pinned me down on the bed. I closed my eyes tight” (212). On top of that, Julia Margo, deputy director of Demos, said, "Growing up has always been tough, but our research shows that this generation of teenagers has more reason to wallow and fret than previous generations. It is definitely tougher to grow up as a girl, and it is harder having to do it now than it has been in recent years." Angst is certainly a defining feature of the coming-of-age-process. How hard will it hit you?

A teenage prostitute