SPRINGDALE — Kara Morris, the captain of the Springdale High School cheer squad, is taking Advanced Placement classes and college algebra. She says it’s a lot of stress, but she has found ways to manage it.

Depression and anxiety among teenagers has increased from 1951 to 2002, according to a study published in Clinical Psychology Review.

Stress in teenagers can take the form of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems, said Benedetto Vitiello, chief of the child and adolescent treatment and preventative intervention research branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. While children ages 15, 16 and 17 generally experience more depression than those ages 10-12, stress is difficult to quantify.

Emily Farley said this is her ninth year as a counselor at Bentonville High School. Before her current position, she was a middle school counselor for four years and a teacher before that. She said she believes there has been an increase in the number of students coming to her with stress and related issues.

“It seems it’s not as easy going through childhood as it may have been in the past,” she said.

Stress can harm high school students by decreasing their ability to concentrate and can impair sleep patterns, Vitiello said. In turn, less sleep can also cause more stress.

“It’s all a vicious circle,” he said.

However, manageable amounts of stress can be helpful for students, Farley said. It can push them to work hard in school.

Allison Scott, Morris’s mother, said she thinks her daughter experiences more stress than she had when she was in high school in the late 1970s. She attributes the stress to Advanced Placement classes, which allow students to receive college credit while in high school. She said high schools didn’t offer these classes when she was in school.

“There’s more pressure to pass certain exams,” she said.

Morris, 17 and a senior, said she took her first Advanced Placement class last year and is taking Advanced Placement classes in English literature and psychology this year. Her worst stress comes when she is preparing and studying for semester exams and Advanced Placement tests.

“Grades are very important to me,” she said.

Despite the stress, Morris said she has found a way to cope by maintaining focus on her studies.

“If you keep up with your work, ask questions and keep engaged, it’s OK, but it’s challenging,” she said. “I tend to tune everything out and focus on what I need and what I’m doing.”

Scott said she helps her daughter cope with stress by talking to her, and offering advice and encouragement. She often tells her “it will all be worth it.”

Scott said she makes sure her daughter eats breakfast everyday and puts an emphasis on good nutrition. Morris wakes up at 5:15 a.m. on school days to go to cheer practice, so Scott also makes sure her daughter gets a good night’s sleep.

While parents in general mean well and want to help their children, sometimes they can be a source of stress as well, Farley said. Some parents put a lot of pressure on their children to get good grades. Some parents will even take measures, like completing a task their child should have completed, so their child succeeds in what they are doing.

“We have so many parents who are afraid to let their kids fail,” she said.

Technology also causes stress among students, Farley said. She thinks social media is causing increased levels of stress because it overstimulates students. There is also stress for students who don’t own a computer or have Internet, but need the technology to do their school work.

Another cause of stress for high school students is getting into college, Farley said. Most of the students that stress about college have a 3.5 grade point average or higher and are high achieving students.

“We have kids that stress themselves to the hilt,” she said.

Garrett Day, a junior at Springdale High School, said most of his stress comes from wanting to get good grades and get into a good college. He plans to take the ACT, a test used for applying to colleges, in February and thinks he will experience stress as he studies for the test. He said being able to manage his time is the biggest help to managing his stress.

“It makes me feel more comfortable because I know where my time is going,” he said.

School advisory periods help high school students learn how to manage their time, Farley said. Students can use advisory periods to work with teachers, other students or on their own to finish assignments.

Farley said she tries to help students experiencing stress by telling them to think realistically about how much they can handle. She talks to them and advises parents about counseling if the student needs it.

“Just them being able to talk to somebody to release some of that pressure helps a lot,” she said.