Script

Social media, bullying, exam stress, appearance, maintaining relationships. These are just some of the many pressures teenagers are faced with nowadays.

Today we are at the Sixth Form College, Solihull to look at how stress affects them as young people in today’s society. So, what are students really stressed about?

The ChildLine National Exam Stress Survey revealed that of the 1300 who completed the survey felt anxious about exams and revision.81% said they felt under pressure to have the perfect body and 40% of these pressures came from pictures on social media.884 of the 6332 calls that Young Minds received in 2011 were from 16-17 year olds and 39% of those were about school problems including exam stress.The survey of 1,000 teenagers taking exams this summer showed 78% expect exam stress to have negative impacts on their appearance, health or mental state.

Whilst visiting the Sixth Form College, Solihull, we spoke to an academic coach to hear what it’s like to deal with student’s stress on a daily basis.

Then, we went to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to speak to Natasha Chamberlain, an Education Improvement Adviser for her expert opinion on young people’s concerns throughout the years.

To give us more information and a better understanding of the mental affects stress has on us and our bodies, we got a chance to talk to Psychology expert, Tom Krawec.

We conducted a survey which 40 students completed and the results were surprising.

Only 1 person said that they wouldn’t change anything about their appearance.33 people said that college is the main reason for their stress.And 39 out of 40 think others have certain expectations for them to achieve.

We interviewed members of the public in Solihull to see if their opinion differed by asking them who they thought faced more pressure: teenagers or adults?