Academic pressure and adolescent mental health: A Born in Bradford study

Adolescence is an important period for the development of mental health problems. Around 50% of all mental disorders worldwide start before the age of 18 years (Solmi et al., 2022). Moreover, rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm are rising in the UK and globally (Cybulski et al., 2021; NHS Digital, 2018). Nonetheless, we have a limited understanding of what causes mental health problems in adolescence. Finding modifiable risk factors is important to prevent the development of mental health problems.

A potential factor that may play a role in adolescent mental health is academic pressure (Klinger et al., 2015; Steare et al., 2023), and there are widespread concerns about the potential negative impact of academic pressure on adolescent mental health. Academic pressure is a complex construct that includes, for example, worries about tests, exams, and assessments, pressure from parents, and worries about the future (Steare et al., 2023). Academic pressure is a common experience in adolescents (HBSC, 2014, 2018). For example, in a survey on influences on mental health, 77% of over 7,000 young people (< 25 years) in the UK agreed that pressure to do well at school affected their mental health (YoungMinds, 2019). The relationship between academic pressure and adolescent mental health has been understudied. One of the big limitations of the existing literature is that most studies used measures of academic pressure that were limited. For example, many studies included only one question or focused on only few of the many relevant aspects of academic pressure (Steare et al., 2023). Together with young people in Wales, we have developed a novel measure of academic pressure that includes eight questions, the Academic Pressure Questionnaire (APQ). The APQ is a novel tool that allows researchers to investigate important questions regarding academic pressure that can inform policy and interventions. The APQ was included, for the first time, in Age of Wonder. In this study, we will investigate whether the APQ is a good and valid measure of academic pressure. We will also investigate whether academic pressure is associated with adolescent mental health (depression and anxiety, and disordered eating). We will then investigate potential factors in childhood (e.g., parental mental health and education, early mental health difficulties, educational attainment) that may influence academic pressure in early adolescence. In an additional study, we will explore whether exposure to greenspace, a positive factor that is thought to be associated with restoration and stress reduction, may be associated with lower academic pressure in adolescents.