【推荐1】“I’m so bored!” It’s a typical complaint by teens in every era, but one that’s growing more common for U. S. adolescents, especially girls.

New research at Washington State University has found that boredom is rising year after year for teens in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades, with greater increases for girls than boys. “We were surprised to see that boredom is increasing at a more rapid pace for girls than boys across all grades,” said Elizabeth Weybright, WSU researcher of adolescent development, who shared the findings in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Weybright’s project tracked a decade of adolescent responses to a question about boredom in a nationwide survey. Adolescents were asked to rate their response to the question “I am often bored,” on a five-point scale. Weybright and her colleagues analyzed the results over time and across grades, between 2008, when the question was first asked, and 2017.

The team’s research revealed that boredom rose within and across grades for much of the last decade. “I wanted to find out when adolescents are most likely to experience boredom,” said Weybright.

When compared across grades, boredom appears to peak in 10th grade for boys and in 8th grade for girls. However, looking across time with grade levels combined, boys’ boredom levels rose 1.6 percent every year on average, while girls’ boredom levels rose by 1.7 percent on average. In every grade, girls’ boredom levels showed steeper rises than boys.

While Weybright’s study doesn’t explore the causes of rising boredom, she notes that boredom may be associated with sensation-seeking and depression, which are rising among U. S. teens. At the same time,digital media use has also been increasing, doubling for 12th graders from 2006 to 2012. Within this same timeframe, other researchers have seen decreases in adolescents going out with friends and spending more time alone. “Perhaps boredom is simply one more indicator of adolescent dissatisfaction with how their time is spent. Apparently, much can be done to handle this adolescent issue,”Weybright stated in the paper.

【推荐3】Two friends have an argument over small things that breaks up their friendship forever. Such sad events happen again and again in high schools. So why aren’t students taught to deal with conflict?

First of all students need to realize that conflict can not be avoided, but it doesn’t mean the happening of violence. However, a report shows that violence often happens between teenagers because of a small insult (侮辱). For example, when one student eats a sandwich each lunchtime, it may lead to someone else’s insult, because he or she was thought to be unwilling to try new things. In turn, it can lead to violence.

Once students recognize that conflict is unavoidable, they can stay calm. Feeling calmer, he or she should choose words that will calm the other person down as well. Insulting words only add fuel to the emotional fire. On the other hand soft words can put out the fire.

After both sides have calmed down, they can apply another key strategy for conflict management: listening. Listening allows the two sides to understand each other. One person should describe his or her side, and the other person should listen.

Finally, students need to consider what they are hearing. Instead of finding out what’s wrong with the other side, they should concentrate on what the real problem is and what both sides are trying to achieve. For example, the student being insulted for a sandwich can ask themselves questions such as “What do I really want? What am I afraid of?” rather than get angry. As the real problem becomes clearer, the conflict often simply becomes smaller.

There will always be conflict in schools. Learning to manage conflicts can help students deal with friends, teachers, parents, bosses, and coworkers. In that way, conflict management is a basic life skill that should be taught in schools across the country.