Pressure to achieve at school at age 15 is linked to depressive symptoms and risk of self-harm, and the association appears to persist into adulthood, finds a study led by UCL researchers. The authors of the new study, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, say their findings suggest that reducing academic pressure in schools could reduce depression and self-harm among young people.
Pressure to achieve at school at age 15 is linked to depressive symptoms and risk of self-harm, and the association appears to persist into adulthood, finds a study led by UCL researchers.
The authors of the new study, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, say their findings suggest that reducing academic pressure in schools could reduce depression and self-harm among young people.
For their study, the researchers reviewed evidence from 4,714 adolescents from the Children of the 90s birth cohort study (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children – ALSPAC), a longitudinal cohort study of parents and their children born in the southwest of England in 1991 and 1992, who have been surveyed at regular intervals.
The authors of the current paper used questionnaire responses from when study participants were aged 15, close to the time of GCSE exams, to reflect academic pressure. Young people reported whether they worry a lot about getting their schoolwork done, whether they feel a lot of pressure from home to do well in school, and the importance of achieving at least five GCSEs.
Depressive symptoms were tracked repeatedly in survey responses from ages 16 to 22, and self-harm was assessed up to age 24.
The researchers found strong evidence that academic pressure at age 15 is linked to higher depressive symptoms at age 16, and the association persists for multiple years. Study participants who experienced high levels of academic pressure when they were 15 continued to report more depressive symptoms at each time point up to age 22.