| Summary: | Abstract
Associations between school-related stress and poor health, risk
behaviours and low well-being are well documented. The aim of this
paper was to estimate trends of perceived school stress experienced
by boys and girls of different ages in the Nordic countries, and
to describe trends in school stress between the Nordic countries.
Nordic data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study
(HBSC) between 2002 and 2014 were used. The participants were aged
11–16 years. School stress was measured by a single item; “How pressured
do you feel by schoolwork?” The participants answering “some” or
“a lot” were categorised as reporting school stress.
Sweden, Norway and Denmark had lower prevalence of school stress
compared to Finland and Iceland. There was an increase in Iceland,
Finland and Denmark, whereas adolescents from Sweden showed a decreasing
trend. In Norway, the level was stable. Boys showed a marginal decline
in school stress whereas girls showed an increase, and school stress
increased by age for the whole period. It is a challenge for the
public education systems in the Nordic countries to develop policies
and practices that provide children with the necessary tools to
achieve knowledge and skill, and at the same minimise stress in
school.
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