Name : Khor Yen Min

ID : 0318149

Module : English 1

Session : January, 2014

Khor Yen Min (0318149) - English 1

Effects of Young People Who Have Less Freedom and Are Under A Lot of

Pressure

Education has started since the period of civilisation or even earlier.

Nowadays, education is one of the most essential asset for every human in this

world. These days, many students especially the young people take education very

seriously. They will usually spend hours of shutting themselves off just for studying.

As time goes by, this will cause the young people to have no freedom in life. They

will be under a lot of pressure due to high expectations from their parents. These

adolescents will have pressure to work hard in their studies. As this continues, the

young people will have side effects such as low self-esteem, stress and depression.

For one thing, young people will have low self-esteem on themselves. If a

person could not take harsh critics or judgements, they will eventually lose their

confidence in life. They will not have self-confidence to do certain things they opt to

try. This is due the fact that they will always think negatively about how bad are they

although it is false. Moreover, low self-esteem people are more prone in making

irrational decisions. This happens when a person faces difficult decisions which they

cannot decide. He or she will also feel useless as they could not make rational

decisions by themselves. A low self-esteem person will also be seeking for attention.

For instance, they would humiliate themselves in a large crowd because they are

lacked of attention. This usually happens in supermarkets or shopping malls as

these places often fills up with people.

In addition to low self-esteem, young people will feel stress. Stress often

occur in adolescent due to peer pressure and parental pressure. With the

competition nowadays, they often feel pressured among peers who achieve better

grades than them. Parents will then compare their children's results and will not be

satisfied with it. On the other hand, this will give a hard impact to the children in their

life. When adolescent bottle up their problems, pressure builds up. This will

eventually cause adolescent to have mental breakdowns as they could not take it

anymore. In order to release stress, they will usually start to break rules and commit

crimes. Examples of the negative influences are smoking, vandalism, gang-fight and

illegal racing. According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Survey (Paynter,

2010), in year 2008, 12.0 percent of all youth from 14 to 15 years old smoked at

least once per month and 6.9 percent once per day.

Besides low self-esteem and stress, depression often takes place in young

people. When a person is under depression, they must have medical treatment in

order to cure themselves. It is not an easy task to get away from it as one must have

strong mentality and be optimistic. Depression will usually make one to lose interest

in doing what they used to love in the past. A person who is under depression will

usually feels lonely and sometimes will talk about suicide. Today, depression is the

third leading cause of death among young people. According to healthychildren.org ,

studies shows that thousands of young people at aged of 15 to 24 years commit

suicide each year in the United States. Depression can also increase the chances of

drugs and alcohol addictions among young people. Nowadays, in order to feel happy

and not care about anything, young people will tend to go for the easy way like

taking up drugs and drinking alcohol. Furthermore, depression ruins the relationship

between family and friends. One who is under depression will not be able to control

their feelings and they will literally throw their anger and tantrums to their close ones.

In conclusion, the young people will have low self-esteem, stress and

depression if they do not have freedom and study under pressure. As an adolescent

we ought to stand up for our rights and should not be afraid of what the

consequences are in life. We can also seek for a counsellor to obtain few advises

from them. Besides that, it is important to find a partner who is willing to lend their

ear to us when we are feeling worn out. According to scientist, as one pours out their

feelings, sooner or later, they will feel lighter in their heart.

707 words.

Reference

Statistics NZ. (2008). Retrieved on 23rd March 2014 from

http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/pacific_peoples/

pacific-progress-health/influences-on-health-well-being.aspx

Healthy Children. (2013). Teen Suicide, Mood Disorder, and Depression. Retrieved

on 23rd March 2014 from http://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-

issues/conditions/emotional-problems/pages/Teen-Suicide-Statistics.aspx