Stress and Stress Management Techniques for Youth: A Critical Narrative Review

Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by rapid biological, cognitive and social change, during which vulnerability to psychological stress rises sharply. Rates of anxiety, depression and stress-related disorder among young people have increased over the past two decades, prompting sustained scholarly interest in the origins of youth stress and in techniques capable of mitigating its consequences. This narrative review synthesises recent peer-reviewed evidence on the biological foundations of stress reactivity in adolescence, the principal social and environmental sources of stress affecting young people, and the comparative effectiveness of stress management approaches, including mindfulness-based interventions, cognitive behavioural therapy, physical activity, yoga and relaxation practices, digital and app-based interventions, school-based social and emotional learning programmes, and family- and peer-support strategies. The review draws on literature indexed in major biomedical, psychological and educational databases, with particular attention to systematic reviews, meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials published in the past decade. Findings indicate that no single technique is universally superior; effectiveness depends instead on the type of stressor, the developmental stage of the young person, the format and dosage of the intervention, and the degree of contextual support available from families and schools. Mindfulness-based and cognitive behavioural approaches show the most consistent evidence for reducing internalising symptoms, physical activity and yoga demonstrate benefits for both physiological and psychological markers of stress, and digital interventions offer a scalable but heterogeneous evidence base. The review concludes that integrated, multi-component strategies delivered across school, family and digital settings are likely to yield the greatest population-level benefit, while highlighting persistent gaps in longitudinal evidence, cultural generalisability and mechanistic understanding.