Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41810569›Full record

ArticleClinical child psychology and psychiatry2026

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

Marie A E Mueller, Chris Bonell, Tamsin J Ford, Carolina Gutiérrez Muñoz, Ann John, Glyn Lewis, Rebecca Meiksin, Simon Murphy, George Ploubidis, Ruth Ponsford and 6 more

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Article in Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Marie A E MuellerDivision of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-9616-1201
Chris BonellDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Tamsin J FordDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Carolina Gutiérrez MuñozDepartment of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Ann JohnNational Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Glyn LewisDivision of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
Rebecca MeiksinDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Simon MurphyCentre for the Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
George PloubidisCentre for Longitudinal Studies, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK.
Ruth PonsfordDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Frances RiceWolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Thomas SteareCentre for Longitudinal Studies, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK.
Alice SullivanCentre for Longitudinal Studies, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK.
Neisha SundaramDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Nerissa TiloucheDepartment of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Gemma LewisDivision of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6666-3681

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

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.

Indexed as

DepressionPsychometricsSelf ReportStress, PsychologicalStudentsAdolescentChildFemaleHumansMaleSchoolsSex FactorsSurveys and Questionnairesacademic pressuremental healthschools

Identifiers

PMID41810569
PMCPMC13276109

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.