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Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire

Marie A. E. Mueller Orcid Logo, Chris Bonell, Tamsin J. Ford, Carolina Gutiérrez Muñoz, Ann John Orcid Logo, Glyn Lewis, Rebecca Meiksin, Simon Murphy, George Ploubidis, Ruth Ponsford, Frances Rice, Thomas Steare, Alice Sullivan, Neisha Sundaram, Nerissa Tilouche, Gemma Lewis Orcid Logo

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Swansea University Author: Ann John Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/13591045261430414

Abstract

Purpose: There is evidence that academic pressure has been rising among adolescents in the UK. While this may be a modifiable risk factor for mental health problems, there are few validated measures of academic pressure and all have limitations. Methods: With secondary-school students, we co-produce...

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Published in: Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
ISSN: 1359-1045 1461-7021
Published: SAGE Publications 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71591
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Methods: With secondary-school students, we co-produced a student-reported measure of academic pressure, the 7-item Academic Pressure Questionnaire (APQ). This was included in the baseline survey of students aged 12-13 within the Positive Choices trial, a whole-school intervention to promote sexual health in English secondary schools. We ran factor analyses and assessed internal consistency, associations with sex and depressive symptoms, and variation in academic pressure between schools. Results: We extracted one factor (Cronbach&#x2019;s alpha 0.76). Female students had higher APQ scores than males (mean difference = 2.18, 95% CI: 1.88 to 2.49). Higher APQ scores were associated with more depressive symptoms (coefficient = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.55) and associations were larger in female than male students (p value for interaction &lt;0.001). School-level factors explained 2.6% of variation in APQ scores after adjusting for individual-level factors (ICC = 0.026, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.06). 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The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the UK NHS, the National Institute for Health Research, or the Department of Health for England. This work was supported by the UCL Health of the Public small grants scheme and the Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF). Gemma Lewis is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant number 223248/Z/21/Z). Tamsin Ford&#x2019;s research group receives funding for research methods consultancy from Place2Be, a third sector organisation that provides mental health training, support, and interventions to schools across the UK. Glyn Lewis received grant funding from the NIHR, Wellcome Trust, UKRI and UCLH BRC, and travel and accommodation expenses to attend ECNP 2023. Ann John is funded by Health and Care Research Wales through the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research. 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spelling 2026-04-13T15:19:29.4993680 v2 71591 2026-03-09 Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55 0000-0002-5657-6995 Ann John Ann John true false 2026-03-09 MEDS Purpose: There is evidence that academic pressure has been rising among adolescents in the UK. While this may be a modifiable risk factor for mental health problems, there are few validated measures of academic pressure and all have limitations. Methods: With secondary-school students, we co-produced a student-reported measure of academic pressure, the 7-item Academic Pressure Questionnaire (APQ). This was included in the baseline survey of students aged 12-13 within the Positive Choices trial, a whole-school intervention to promote sexual health in English secondary schools. We ran factor analyses and assessed internal consistency, associations with sex and depressive symptoms, and variation in academic pressure between schools. Results: We extracted one factor (Cronbach’s alpha 0.76). Female students had higher APQ scores than males (mean difference = 2.18, 95% CI: 1.88 to 2.49). Higher APQ scores were associated with more depressive symptoms (coefficient = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.55) and associations were larger in female than male students (p value for interaction <0.001). School-level factors explained 2.6% of variation in APQ scores after adjusting for individual-level factors (ICC = 0.026, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.06). Conclusion: The APQ is a valid and reliable tool to investigate academic pressure in secondary-school adolescents. Journal Article Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 0 SAGE Publications 1359-1045 1461-7021 academic pressure; mental health; schools 11 3 2026 2026-03-11 10.1177/13591045261430414 COLLEGE NANME Medical School COLLEGE CODE MEDS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The Positive Choices study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research in England under its Public Health Research Board (131487). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the UK NHS, the National Institute for Health Research, or the Department of Health for England. This work was supported by the UCL Health of the Public small grants scheme and the Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF). Gemma Lewis is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant number 223248/Z/21/Z). Tamsin Ford’s research group receives funding for research methods consultancy from Place2Be, a third sector organisation that provides mental health training, support, and interventions to schools across the UK. Glyn Lewis received grant funding from the NIHR, Wellcome Trust, UKRI and UCLH BRC, and travel and accommodation expenses to attend ECNP 2023. Ann John is funded by Health and Care Research Wales through the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research. Thomas Steare acknowledges funding from the Wellcome Trust (218497/Z/19/Z). The Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health was established with funding from the Wolfson Foundation. 2026-04-13T15:19:29.4993680 2026-03-09T10:10:59.6152676 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science Marie A. E. Mueller 0000-0001-9616-1201 1 Chris Bonell 2 Tamsin J. Ford 3 Carolina Gutiérrez Muñoz 4 Ann John 0000-0002-5657-6995 5 Glyn Lewis 6 Rebecca Meiksin 7 Simon Murphy 8 George Ploubidis 9 Ruth Ponsford 10 Frances Rice 11 Thomas Steare 12 Alice Sullivan 13 Neisha Sundaram 14 Nerissa Tilouche 15 Gemma Lewis 0000-0001-6666-3681 16 71591__36499__616c4fd97ba444bd97508ffa13a2ceea.pdf 71591.VoR.pdf 2026-04-13T15:16:36.6361161 Output 527569 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
spellingShingle Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
Ann John
title_short Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
title_full Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
title_fullStr Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
title_full_unstemmed Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
title_sort Development of a Self-Reported Measure of Academic Pressure Among Secondary-School Students: The Academic Pressure Questionnaire
author_id_str_mv ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55
author_id_fullname_str_mv ed8a9c37bd7b7235b762d941ef18ee55_***_Ann John
author Ann John
author2 Marie A. E. Mueller
Chris Bonell
Tamsin J. Ford
Carolina Gutiérrez Muñoz
Ann John
Glyn Lewis
Rebecca Meiksin
Simon Murphy
George Ploubidis
Ruth Ponsford
Frances Rice
Thomas Steare
Alice Sullivan
Neisha Sundaram
Nerissa Tilouche
Gemma Lewis
format Journal article
container_title Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
container_volume 0
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1359-1045
1461-7021
doi_str_mv 10.1177/13591045261430414
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Purpose: There is evidence that academic pressure has been rising among adolescents in the UK. While this may be a modifiable risk factor for mental health problems, there are few validated measures of academic pressure and all have limitations. Methods: With secondary-school students, we co-produced a student-reported measure of academic pressure, the 7-item Academic Pressure Questionnaire (APQ). This was included in the baseline survey of students aged 12-13 within the Positive Choices trial, a whole-school intervention to promote sexual health in English secondary schools. We ran factor analyses and assessed internal consistency, associations with sex and depressive symptoms, and variation in academic pressure between schools. Results: We extracted one factor (Cronbach’s alpha 0.76). Female students had higher APQ scores than males (mean difference = 2.18, 95% CI: 1.88 to 2.49). Higher APQ scores were associated with more depressive symptoms (coefficient = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.55) and associations were larger in female than male students (p value for interaction <0.001). School-level factors explained 2.6% of variation in APQ scores after adjusting for individual-level factors (ICC = 0.026, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.06). Conclusion: The APQ is a valid and reliable tool to investigate academic pressure in secondary-school adolescents.
published_date 2026-03-11T07:39:50Z
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score 11.102318

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