Tests, peer pressure, and mental health in adolescents

In the last few decades, high school students have reported high levels of mental illness including depressive symptoms and anxiety. However, it is not fully understood whether test numbers will have influences on their mental health. Moreover, peer pressure and stress may also have impacts on students’ mood states. In the current study, we examined how tests and peer pressure associated with mental health of students in a high school in New York. We found sex differences in some mental health measures. Specifically, other genders showed more severe symptoms as compared to boys and girls, which may partly result from uneven sample sizes. We also identified significant associations of tests with somatic complaints and stress. In addition, we linked higher levels of peer pressure to more severe depressive, anxious, and somatic problems, and more sleep dysfunctions. These findings collectively suggest potential causes of mental illness in high school students, which have implications in the mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders.