Academic Burnout, Sarah Maraschiello………………………………………………………4 Ambivalence, Nerusha Kulenthirarajah Anorexia, Victoria Pampena……………………………………………………………………8 Asexuality, Stela Stoyanova……………………………………………………………………10

their learning. Another important way to improve burnout for students is to encourage an extremely positive classroom environment, by forming group discussions and opportunities for students to make personal connections with each other. For further reading on burnout, how to recognize the symptoms and help students in need, refer to “What Is Academic Burnout?”, published by University of the People. This article provides great insight into the causes of burnout, and ways to recognize it when it is happening. A great academic source that describes a study of high school students from South Korea is, “From emotional exhaustion to cynicism in academic burnout among Korean high school students: Focusing on the mediation effects of hatred of academic work”. References 1) From emotional exhaustion to cynicism in academic burnout among Korean high school students: Focusing on the mediation effects of hatred of academic work https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/smi.2936 2) What Is Academic Burnout? https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-academic-burnout/

Ambivalence

Nerusha Kulenthirarajah

I am trying. I am trying to be there for you. I am trying to be supportive and encourage your dreams. I am trying to understand you but fail every time. Why are you so difficult? Sarah’s mother said that to her when she was an adolescent but she have not forgotten that ever since. Though, as an adolescent, how can one explain their thoughts to other individuals when they are trying to understand their mental process themselves? Teenagers are stuck between two stages; They are considered “a rising adult and a fading child” simultaneously. As a result, they may seem indecisive (Roadstead Montessori High School, n.d.). However, this confusing state that adolescents experience is called ambivalence which refers to the positive and negative emotions that occur in a parent-child relationship (Tighe et al., 2016). This Latin term consists two prefixes who are ambi and Valentia; Ambi means both and Valentia means strength (Roadstead Montessori High School, n.d.). Historically, according to Eugene Bleuler, ambivalence refers to a psychological syndrome (Roadstead Montessori High School, n.d.). Despite the varied definition, the terminology signifies the complex and contradicting process that an adolescent experiences during the transitional period. It is essential to understand this term ambivalence because of the possible long-lasting detrimental effects that adolescents may experience in their life. For instance, teenagers are vulnerable to depression; they may experience their first depressive episode during this period (Tighe et al., 2016). Moreover, this affects their relationship with other individuals. For example, individuals who experience ambivalence are more likely to obtain depressive symptoms, declined health and lower life satisfaction (Tighe et al., 2016). Particularly, high ambivalence is due to their heavy dependence on their parents and lack of independence (Tighe et al., 2016). Although, the outcome of ambivalence varies between each parent. For instance, individuals who

report high ambivalence towards their mother are likely to obtain symptoms of depression over time (Tighe et al., 2016). This is due to frequent contact in which increases ambivalence (Tighe et al., 2016). Whereas, individuals who report high ambivalence towards their father obtained less depressive symptoms over time (Tighe et al., 2016). In other words, high ambivalence is due to the imbalance between independence and closeness (Tighe et al., 2016). Thus, the concept of ambivalence enables individuals to develop strategies to emphasize in which increases affective solidarity and reduce ambivalence (Tighe et al., 2016). For instance, older adults consider ambivalence as a maladaptation instead of a normal development for adolescents (Tighe et al., 2016). This is problematic because teenagers will not be able to feel comfortable with speaking to an adult because they might not understand their situation. In other words, older adults will minimize or disregard their opinion due to the assumption that adolescents are unable to form a consistent opinion. Hence, it is important to encourage adults to recognize the positive aspects as well as re-evaluate their expectations in which allows them to support adolescent’s development (Tighe et al., 2016). Moreover, this permits adolescents to analyze various perspectives in order to make a suitable decision for a particular situation.

References

Roadstead Montessori High School. (n.d). How Ambivalence Empowers Teenagers.

https://roadsteadhighschool.com/how-ambivalence-empowers-teenagers/ Tighe, L. A., Birditt, K. S., & Antonucci, T. C. (2016). Intergenerational ambivalence in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for depressive symptoms over time. Developmental psychology, 52(5), 824–834. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040146

Asexuality

Stela Stoyanova

I have chosen the word “Asexuality” as my keyword for the purpose of this assignment. I feel that Asexuality is a pertinent term in regards to the maintenance of health during the time of adolescence because it is a relatively unspoken of topic, but it is something that millions of adolescents will come to experience. The definition of Asexuality is that of a person who feels little to no sexual attraction or desire. Oppositely, an Allosexual is a person who does experience sexual attraction. Most people identify as Allosexual, to a greater or lesser degree, however I would have personally adored to have the identity of Asexual be explained to me when I was a teenager. I found, as the alumni of a small town Catholic school, that sex, sexuality, gender, and identity were always explained to me in one of two ways: either the explanation was terribly conservative, unhelpful, centred around controlling women, and overly vague; or the explanations were so awfully sex positive that it turned me off those sorts of relationships altogether. There was no happy medium, and no exploration of the varying degrees of sexual desire and their assorted identities. As an example, an Aesexual will not be the sort of person to find someone sexually attractive and therefore pursue romantic affairs with them. This is not to say that Asexuals do not engage in romantic affairs. A favourite example of mine, for romantic Asexual relationships, is the identity of Bambii Lesbians. These are lesbians who are in love but do not need or desire sexual intercourse. An Asexual may be sexually active, whether for the purposes of expressing love through sexual intercourse, or due to the desire of having children, etc. Asexuality is very rare. Only about 1% of the world’s population is Asexual. Nevertheless, that amounts to over 78 million people. Asexuality also comes in varying degrees. There are Asexuals who never wish to engage in sexual activities and feel no libido, there are asexuals who do experience libido but prefer to take care of their needs themselves; there are even Asexuals who will eventually experience sexual attraction, after a long and deeply connected relationship has been established. These Asexuals may label themselves as Graysexuals or Demisexuals, which are forms of Asexuality (because Asexuality, just like being Transgender, is an umbrella term with various sub-identities). It is important to note that Asexuality is different than Aromanticism. Aromanticism is the absence of the desire to have a romantic partner. People may be both Aromantic and Asexual and simply not want neither sex nor romantic love, or an Aromantic may be Allosexual and not desire committed relationships. On the subject of history, the term Asexual seems to have been coined in the 1970s, but obviously such as all sex and gender identities, Asexuality has always existed. I believe that the