Exam stress ‘can harm children’

EDUCATION: Exam stress can be damaging for children’s psychological and physical health and can lead to obesity in adulthood, research by the University of Leeds’ psychology department suggests.

The university has been conducting studies, looking at the direct effects of stress in children and adolescents.

EXAM STRESS can be damaging for children’s psychological and physical health and can lead to obesity in adulthood, research by the University of Leeds’ psychology department suggests.

The university has been conducting a series of studies, looking at the direct effects of stress in children and adolescents.

With more academic pressures than ever on pupils, professor of psychology Daryl O’Connor has been studying behavioural patterns and some interesting results have emerged.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “We know much less about the impact of stress in children than the impact in adults. Exam stress is often a key stressor, particularly in children or adolescents.

“The school environment has changed radically in terms of students constantly being assessed. The experience of these pressures and resulting anxiety in terms of exams can affect basic behaviour systems.

“Changes in cortisol levels – the stress hormone – promote increased energy, which effects food consumption and can lead to the consumption of high fat and high density foods.

“Children are significantly more likely to consume high fat foods – particularly older children doing GCSEs. As a result of stress they are also less likely to do physical exercise, if they are smokers they are more likely to smoke and it can lead to an increase in caffeine consumption.”

Professor O’Connor said he found that children who suffered stress from a young age were more likely to be obese and suffer from mental health issues.

He said: “Childhood obesity is a serious issue now. The concern is children start to learn eating habits early in life. Kids experience a lot of stressors that may lay down these eating styles and they take them into adolescence and adulthood. There is certainly some evidence to suggest that this is the case. Stress can be damaging for psychological and physical health.

“Exam stress may be more damaging than we might imagine. What we do know can affect biology, as well as behaviour, and a child might learn health patterns which are taken to adulthood, which become more difficult to change.”

He listed a number of measures that could be taken to help cope with stress.

He said: “Research has found that if you get individuals to write about their anxiety and worries 10 minutes before an exam, they will perform better. There is also a technique called ‘worry postponement’, where you might tell yourself you will worry about an issue at a set time, for example 7pm after dinner. This has proven to be beneficial to cope better with stress.”

Time management, physical exercise, getting more sleep and turning off social media and emails are also ways to deal with stress, Professor O’Connor said.

He added: “We don’t know the full impact of stress, particularly in young children yet. So we are continuing to look at the impact of exam stress, as well as other factors, and how that can influence health within the context of childhood obesity.”

Last month The Yorkshire Post revealed how headteacher Jill Wood, from Little London Primary, in Leeds, was so upset by her 10 and 11-year-old pupils being in “floods of tears” during SATS exams as a result of stress, she decided not to run them this year, despite the move putting her job under threat.

Exam stress may be more damaging than we might imagine. University of Leeds psychology professor Daryl O’Connor