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

PurposeThere 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.MethodsWith 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.ResultsWe 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).ConclusionThe APQ is a valid and reliable tool to investigate academic pressure in secondary-school adolescents.