Subjective health complaints in older adolescents are related to perceived stress, anxiety and gender – a cross-sectional school study in Northern Sweden

Table 5 Prevalence (%) of perceived stress expressed as pressure and demands, activation/high tempo and sleep problems during the previous weeks in girls and boys

Perceived stress indexes ª	Girls (%)			Boys (%)			P-value
	Never/seldom	Sometimes	Often/always	Never/seldom	Sometimes	Often/always
*Pressure and Demands variables ª*
I don’t have enough time	28.4	38.3	33.4	39.4	38.4	22.3	0.000
I feel under pressure from school demands	9.8	26.6	63.6	26.1	35.5	38.5	0.000
I feel helpless	58.9	27.1	14.0	79.0	16.3	4.7	0.000
I never feel really free	19.8	25.5	54.7	37.1	27.2	35.6	0.000
I feel under pressure from demands at home	63.0	20.6	16.4	74.2	13.9	11.9	0.003
I feel under pressure from my inner demands	18.3	25.7	56.1	38.9	33.2	28.0	0.000
I don’t feel rested after sleep	20.7	29.7	49.6	34.6	28.0	37.4	0.000
*Activation/High tempo variables ª*
I rush even if I don’t have to	35.0	33.7	31.3	62.6	26.8	10.7	0.000
I keep a high speed all the day	35.9	39.6	24.5	62.4	23.8	13.9	0.000
I eat rapidly even if I don’t have to	31.7	29.4	39.0	43.1	25.0	32.0	0.006
I do many things at the same time	13.0	34.1	52.8	28.0	40.8	31.2	0.000
I find it difficult to relax	27.1	39.8	33.1	57.3	28.5	14.1	0.000
*Sleep problems variables ª*
I sleep restlessly and shallow	60.1	25.2	14.6	77.5	16.9	5.7	0.000
I have difficulty falling asleep	40.0	32.1	28.0	54.7	22.3	23	0.000
I wake up early in the morning	72.6	16.1	11.4	83.6	9.4	6.9	0.000
I feel restless	28.4	50.4	21.2	36.7	47.1	16.1	0.035

Response alternatives were “never/seldom”, “sometimes” and “often/always” (Chi² test with p-values for between group differences).
ªPerceived stress index included variables yielded from factor analysis. (see Table 2).

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