Grade, and Sex

A great deal of the literature and research dealing with life-events and stress during adolescence has cited school as a major contributor to student stress. As a considerable proportion of a teenager's life is spent at school in the pursuit of academic endeavors, it is reasonable to assume that a substantial proportion of stressors affecting aJolescents may originate in the academic area. This study sought to investigate the factors contributing to academic stress within an adolescent student population, and whether these factors vary across ethnicity, sex, and grade. The Academic Pressure Scale for Adolescents was administered to 550 high school students. Four significant factors were found to contribute to academic stress: peer pressure; parental pressure; importance of school; and fear of failure. Peer pressure was found to vary across all variables. Importance of school and fear of failure were found t