Studies
As a teenager designing a device for burnout I had to develop credible evidence to prove the importance of this cause. I did research on multiple studies to show the importance.
Study 1- What is Stress?
The American Psychological Association defines stress as a physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors, which can disrupt a person’s equilibrium and overall well-being. In the study published by Lazarus et al., stress is defined as any situation in which external and internal demands “exceed” the individual’s ability to adapt and cope, thus disrupting their mental, emotional, and physical health and well-being. [1-3]
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Rapid Heartbeat
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Sweating
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Dry mouth
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Shortness of breath
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Headaches
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Dizziness
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Sleep problems
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Nausea
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Digestive issues
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Pain
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Frequent illness
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Prolonged fatigue.
Teenagers experience stress through homework and lessons which negatively affects their self-rated health and sometime their objective health status. [15]
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Only 1/3 of students who experience stress in school rate their health as excellent.
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Older student have increased workloads which correlates with a lower self-rated health.
Note: Stress is not always negative; moderate levels of stress can be motivating and lead to personal growth. But it is always important to recognize when stress is changing the student's behavior.
How does stress feel?
How do students experience stress?
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alcohol use
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smoking
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increased agression
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Nervousness
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Irritability
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Anger
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Neglect of Responsibilities
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Lower Task Performance
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Difficulty Concentrating
Excessive and chronic stress can result in adverse outcomes, including psychological disorders, physiological illnesses, and maladaptive behaviors, reducing the quality of life [4-7].
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The subjective appraisal of stress is influenced by individual differences and environmental factors. The so-called perceived stress is how the individual perceives and responds to reality and its challenges.
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Chronic stress and the inability to cope with it can lead to significant mental and health issues, including anxiety, depression, and even sleep and eating disorders.
What does stress cause?
Risky behaviors
Negative Emotions
How is stress recognized?
Long-Term Effects
Study 2 - Stress in Teenagers
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School obligations: lessons, homework, tests, and high academic demands
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Extracurricular activities
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Social situations: conflicts with peers, family problems
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Negative experiences at school
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Life changes: such as moving to a new home or changing schools
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School life becomes more stressful with age.
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Satisfaction with school and sense of support from teachers and peers among adolescents decreases with increasing pressure from school duties.
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Students in STEM programs had higher levels of stress compared to those in other programs. If students experience anxiety and depression, then this can decrease their academic performance.
Teen Stressors
School Load
Study 3 - How do researchers measure it?
Learning, memory, and decision making are impaired by stress. These cognitive functions can be assessed with stress tests and questionaires.
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Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) - Kirschbaum 1993 - public speaking with mental arithmetic tasks
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Demand Selection Task (DST) - participants choose between 2 options, requiring different levels of mental effort (multi-tasking or switching tasks frequently vs less frequent task switching)
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Study design: 50 participants, randomly assigned to stress or control group
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Participants took the Need for Cognition Scale (NFC): Questionnaire about cognitive effort and motivation
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SHAPS - apathy questionnaire
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- Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) - chronic (last months) stress levels - Cohen 1994
Stress Tests & Questionaires
Study method:
Findings:
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Acute stress increased participants’ preference for less demanding behaviors, while performance remained unchanged
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Most subjects preferred the option that required a low cognitive effort, with higher incidence in subjects under stress
- Skin conductance went up in the stress group (normal is 1-20, theirs was 42 us)
Study 4 - Stress by Gender
Research questions:
(1) Is the level of demands, the level of coping resources, and the combination of demands and coping resources associated with different measures of stress in students?
(2) Are there any differences between girls and boys?classroom questionnaire was completed by 413 studentscortisol study where they sampled saliva at four time points during an ordinary school day: (a) Immediately at waking up, (b) at 30 min post-awakening, (c) at 60 min post-awakening, and (d) at 8:00 p.m → competitive radioimmunoassay (Spectria Cortisol RIA, Orion Diagnostica,link to explain radioimmunoassay)
Findings: Girls also had higher cortisol output compared to boys, which may partly reflect biological differences. girls experienced higher levels of demands compared to boys, whereas there was no gender difference in access to coping resources.
Feel like they are unable to live up to the expectations and demands posed on themNeed higher education for better job opportunitiesGirls have higher academic aspirations compared to boys so they feel like they have more stress
Gender differences in cortisol Findings:
-GR deletion also plays a role in male mice depression but not in females.
-gender differences in the relationship between cortisol and depression
Study 5 - Why studying Stress is important?
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Help find health issues in young people sooner
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Gave awareness of how stress impacts performance
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Girls reach maturity faster and deal with being in the same age group as boys who are immature
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Girls have to deal with more medical issues sooner in life
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Girls have to deal with more medical worries sooner (always)
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Girls are trained to be positive and physically fit/pretty but also smart, athletic and independent
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Boys are emotionally closed off from expressing issues with mental health and stress (they are trained to handle everything like “tough men”)
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Sleep difficulties, irritability, heachaches all are associated with stress
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Everyone needs help to be less stressed earlier in life and have tools to deal with stress and grow
Link Study 5
Findings from 2025 European study:
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Girls reported more frequent health complaints than boys across all age groups.
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Almost twice as many 15-year-olds (13% for boys and 28% for girls) than 11-year-olds (8% for boys and 14% for girls) reported feeling lonely in the last year
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The persistent mental health concerns of 15-year-old girls across countries and regions highlight the need to implement targeted interventions in school curricula.
Sex Differences in the Association Between Cortisol Concentrations and Laboratory Pain Responses
Study 5 - How to reduce Stress?
2017 paper on probiotic milk to decrease stress (increase deep sleep) before exam: https://brill.com/view/journals/bm/8/2/article-p153_2.xml
-50 subjects per treatment group
-trial was repeated over two consecutive years in different groups of students and the data were pooled
-2-week pre-intervention period and an 11-week intervention period. The national examination took place at the end of the 8th week of the intervention
Subjects ingested either 100 ml of the LcS-fermented milk or placebo milk once a day throughout the intervention period
Psychological well-being assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) score (Goldberg and Hillier, 1979), personality traits assessed by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory score (NEO-FFI) (Costa and McCrae, 1989), anxiety levels assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) (Nakazato and Mizuguchi, 1982; Spielberger et al., 1970), recent sleep quality assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)
sleep efficiency determined by EEG measurement
GHQ: https://score.awellhealth.com/calculations/ghq_12
NEO: https://nesdo.onderzoek.io/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NEO_NO1_205.pdf
STAI: https://www.advancedassessments.co.uk/resources/Mental-Health-Test.pdf