What does a teenager have to be stressed about?

A classic line on telly the other night was said to me by a friend today on the way to school. I quote: "What does a seventeen year old boy have to be stressed about?"
This line then brings up the question; what does any teenager have to be stressed about?
A debate then broke out about how wrong it is to ask this question. How dare a parent utter such a question in the first place. Now, I'm not going to be biased towards us teens here, because of course adults have many things to be stressed about, for example work, the daily chores of cooking, cleaning, paying bills, plus parenthood involving paying for us lot, acting as our own private taxi firm, etc, etc. I mean their lives aren't exactly peachy either. Adults have a lot on their plates too.
However, a teenager can also have a lot of issues playing on their minds too, and sometimes adults just don't realise this.
For example, first and foremost (especially at this particular time), the key factor causing stress are exams and the constant pressure of having to do well. Study hard, get good grades, set off for Uni or college and get yourself a decent career. Easier said than done.
For starters, in my case right now, I have five subjects, all at Higher level, to cram into my head in time for the prelims which are beginning in just over two weeks. Yes, you can argue that beginning revision way in advance would relieve some of the pressure, but if you start it too soon, by the time the exam gets here you'll have forgotton what most of the course work you tried to stuff in your head actually was. Plus there are other commitments a teen has, which are often unavoidable, for example, work. This is not my situation (I'm still jobless, but thats fine, I have enough on my mind as it is), but some of my friends often have a few issues with working awkward hours and I can bet other teens out there are in similar circumstances. Your employer will say in the beginning that you'll only be working at weekends from such a time til such a time, but give it a while and some employers will begin to muck you around slightly. It's like leading you into a false sense of security, and when they're sure they have you for good, they adjust your hours, making them longer, and having you work through the week more frequently. This cuts out valuable revision time, thus piling on the pressure even more so to get through all of the foreboding exams.
To add to the ever increasing sense of pressure and stress, the teachers aren't exactly helpful either. They begin the countdown to exams on your first day back after the summer holidays (no exaggeration, it has happened) and in between throw at you various check ups and tests which in some cases you have to pass, or else you fail the course altogether. This requires yet more revision. Add on the number of essays and homework assignments asked of you which have deadlines which must be met and already you can see that the general overload of school work is a big contributor to stress. Yes, it's all part of the curriculum, but then that leads back to the government and the whole education system, which quite frankly, I don't even want to get started on, else this post will turn into a novel...
Another point with school is the constant reminder (by guidance teachers in particular) that you have a career to get. By the end of your school years, you must have at least decided on what career you want to do. Which path will you follow now that your primary and secondary years are over? Will you go on to Uni or college for further education? Go straight into a line work? What? Well, to be honest, I would personally like to take my time on this, and in truth you do have a good while to decide what career you would like to pursue. It's just that school seems to rush you. It gives you the feeling that you have to know what you're going to do by a certain deadline, because don't forget, in a few months time you'll be applying for Uni or college, or sending away job application letters to businesses, so you have to know asap. This of course links to the pressure of getting the right grades in time. Need I go on?

Ok, so teenagers have exams to worry about, plus school work, plus teachers asking them for more school work, plus jobs which intervene with all of the afore mentioned, plus career choices with deadlines. What else is there? Peer pressure would be one. Lets face it, we all feel we have to look good in front of people - our friends - because we have street cred and a reputation to live up to. We have to have the right image in order to be accepted into a certain crowd of people. One try at individualism and it could lead to becoming the victim of bullying, or worse. In today's society, who knows. Just look at the news broadcasts. Teen stabbed at school in girls' toilets, boy shot whilst riding bike through park, so on, so forth. All of these incidents happened as a result of some gang of teenagers refusing to accept another teenager and then, for some strange reason, finding murder to be the best way to resolve the issue. I'm not taking a dig at every teenager out there, because obviously I'm one too, but for those who aren't teenagers who happen to be reading this can you not see that our peers, our friends, also have expectations of us. A word of warning; if the people who you hang out with expect you to be who you're not, then maybe they're not your friends at all. I mean, that's the last thing you need when you've got enough pressure mounting up on your shoulders as it is; the pressure to look 'cool' for your 'friends'.

Add on to all of this the odd arguements with parents over your attitude of late and there's more stress in your life. Yes, as if it wasn't enough, we've got parents, who, although they are family, also like to jump on the band wagon and pour another helping of stress into our lives. They may not realise they're doing it, but the odd, or frequent, arguement between ourselves and our parents can cause all the more stress for us. I mean, who likes arguing with their family after all? It's not exactly an enjoyable past time.

So, question: "what does a teenager have to be stressed about?"
The answer: a lot.
Best way of dealing with it? Give yourself as much free time as possible, to wind down from the daily pressures of school and your social lives.
The point is, it's not just adults who have issues with stress; us teenagers have them too.