Learning how to cope with powerful emotions is a key challenge that comes with being a teenager. Teens, and the adults who care for them, can sometimes struggle to know how to manage intense adolescent feelings well. Accordingly, Dr. Lisa Damour partnered with Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation to take a deep dive the emotional lives of teenagers, their unique coping strategies, and how they want adults to support them when they are upset.
Read the Gallup summary on the first wave of findings here.
The poll results reveal that, in addition to experiencing a great deal of happiness, young people often feel stressed, anxious, or sad. Generation Z youth report having a wide range of effective coping techniques for when they are upset. In terms of the kind of support they want from adults, the tweens and teens surveyed said that they preferred being listened to carefully and taken seriously over being given advice.
Conducted in March 2024, the poll surveyed 1,675 American families, including both a tween/teen (ages 10-18) and a parent from each household. In the coming months further results will offer useful insights on how adults can strengthen their connections to the teenagers in their lives.
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