Adolescence Stress

Adolescence Stress

Adolescence is a time of many psychosocial and physiological changes. One such change is how an individual responds to stressors. Specifically, adolescence is marked by significant shifts in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity, resulting in heightened stress-induced hormonal responses. It is presently unclear what mediates these changes in stress reactivity and what impacts they may have on an adolescent individual. However, stress-sensitive limbic and cortical brain areas that continue to mature during adolescence may be particularly vulnerable to these shifts in responsiveness. Consequently, perturbations of the maturing adolescent brain may contribute to the increase in stress-related psychological dysfunctions, such as anxiety, depression, and drug abuse, often observed during this stage of development. When an individual experiences a stressor, be it physical or psychological, two hormonal systems are activated to help the individual cope with the situation. The first is mediated by the rapid actions of the sympathetic nervous system, leading to the release of epinephrine and norepinephrine into the bloodstream. It is this immediate response that mediates the transient so called “fight-or-flight” reaction to stress. The second is a slower, more protracted hormonal response mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This response is initiated by a group of neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), which secrete corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) to signal the pituitary to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This information can be published in our peer-reviewed journal with impact factors and are calculated using citations not only from research articles but also review articles (which tend to receive more citations), editorials, letters, meeting abstracts, short communications, and case reports. The inclusion of these publications provides the opportunity for editors and publishers to manipulate the ratio used to calculate the impact factor and try to increase their number rapidly. Impact factor plays a major role for the particular journal. Journal with higher impact factor is considered to be more important than other ones.


Last Updated on: Nov 27, 2024

Global Scientific Words in Neuroscience & Psychology