Stress-Related Symptoms in Swedish Adolescents: A Study in Two Upper Secondary Schools

Abstract

Aims: Psychiatric symptoms, sleeping problems and stress are increasing in Swedish adolescents. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a combination of two potential stressors (i.e., high academic proficiency and high urbanicity) in a school setting would be related to increased stress levels and stress-related symptoms among pupils. Our second aim was to evaluate correlations between perceived stress and psychiatric symptoms, sleep quality and personality traits. Methods: 202 Swedish high-school students from two schools, one with high academic proficiency in the Metropolitan Malmö area and one of average academic proficiency in a medium-sized town, participated. We used Internet-based versions of the following questionnaires: Symptoms Checklist 90 (SCL-90) for general psychiatric symptoms, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) for stress, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep quality and Eysenck Personality Index (EPI) for personality traits. Results: There was no significant difference between the schools in any of the measured scales. Significant correlations between perceived stress and GSI score, PSQI score and the personality trait Neuroticism were observed. Conclusions: This study suggests no difference between the high academic proficiency/metropolitan school and the average academic proficiency/medium-sized town school in perceived stress levels or stress-related psychiatric symptoms.

Upper secondary school students’ compliance with two Internet-based self-help programmes: a randomised controlled trial

“…In the process of choosing the population, we opted for two different schools in terms of academic performance and urbanicity, to obtain an adequate sample that could be considered relatively representative of Swedish upper secondary school students. This selection is more thoroughly described in the baseline cross-sectional study [ 11 ], which represents a larger randomised, controlled, single-blinded study (CHAMPS) aimed to investigate whether iMBI could be used to prevent psychiatric and stress-related symptoms.…”

“…We used three well-defined, well-validated, and reliable psychometric tests, before and after the intervention, that had previously been used on adolescents: the Symptoms Checklist 90 (SCL-90) [ 54 ], the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) [ 55 ], and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) [ 56 ]. The combination of scales was chosen to give an insight into the students’ perceived stress (PSS-14) and likely outcomes of that stress, expressed as low-quality sleep (PSQI) and increased general psychiatric symptoms (SCL-90), as previous studies have shown bi-directionally stress-associated impairments in psychiatric symptoms and sleep [ 11 ]. The time required to fill in the questionnaires was adjusted to avoid questionnaire fatigue and keep good test–retest reliability.…”

“…Furthermore, there is evidence of significant associations between stress and psychopathology in children and adolescents from both cross-sectional [ 4 , 5 ] and longitudinal studies [ 6 – 9 ]. Psychiatric symptoms and stress in adolescents can result in negative effects on health, well-being, and academic achievement [ 10 ], and seem to be independent of both the academic proficiency and urbanicity of the school [ 11 ]. In addition, there is a well-established association between reduced sleep quality and psychiatric symptoms in adolescents.…”

Sleep in relation to psychiatric symptoms and perceived stress in Swedish adolescents aged 15 to 19 years

“…Finally, when selecting the study population, we opted for two schools that differed in terms of socioeconomic status, academic proficiency profile, urbanicity, and geographic location with the aim of obtaining a sample as representative as possible. This has been requested in previous studies (22,33,57).…”

Perceived Stress and Psychiatric Symptoms in Swedish Upper Secondary School Students

“…Bergska skolan has 385 students and is the only upper secondary school in Finspång with national education programs. Finspång is a rural town (20,747 inhabitants in 2010) (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2013) with heavy industry (Antonson, Thorsén, Sundquist, & Sundquist, 2014).…”