Parents can ease teens' stress from prom pressures

Today’s high school students experience higher levels of stress and anxiety related to the big dance than their parents experienced, a behavioral health expert said.

Those pressures range from over-the-top “promposals” to financial stress over designer formal wear, limousine escorts and extravagant dinners. They also include life-altering temptations to drink alcohol, take drugs or engage in sexual behavior on prom night,

The prom tradition has become expensive – on average, a prom dress alone can cost in excess of $250 – and high pressure for teens competing with peers to have the most-perfec...