“I don’t really know why appearances matter so much, I think it’s just how the society is” seventh-grader Bella Stephens said. Teenagers constantly have stress over trying to fit in with their friends, classmates, and people who surround them in their daily lives.

“If someone showed up to school wearing a brand that’s really popular, I feel like more people would hang out with them. But if someone came to school wearing baggy clothes that aren’t so ‘popular’ less people would show interest”.

According to ABC news, 30% of teen girls suffer from anxiety and 50% of those girls who have anxiety say that it mostly comes from cyber bullying. People can body shame and say a lot of mean things online, and text messages or Ssnapchats can always get screenshotted. Teens worry a lot about what they look like. If there is one instance in their life when they get judged about their body or what they look like, teenagers will most likely remember that hate comment for a very long time. 

“Middle schoolers compare themselves to their friends and their classmates a lot sort of as an ‘am I normal, and I doing the right thing’ reference. Middle schoolers really want to be liked and accepted by people their same age and it’s really difficult when they’re not.” UPrep counselor Lindsay Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe added, “When kids are in elementary school, usually their parents are their major frame of reference. So we look to our parents for guidance, and what’s important, and what we should be doing, and as we enter middle school, that shifts to friends taking more of a lead in what’s important to us”. 

According to Sheila Achar Josephs with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, perfectionists like to set high goals for themselves which can be really useful at times, but it also tends to trigger anxiety by over thinking about looks and how you act.