HOMEWORK and exams are much more likely to cause children stress than peer pressure to be "trendy" and have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Doing well at school topped the list of the five most common worries of five to 16-year-olds, according to new research.

A parallel poll of parents indicated they are out of touch - more than half thought their children were most concerned about their friendships.

The five most common causes of stress for all children were: doing well at school (46 per cent), people taking drugs and alcohol (43 per cent), bullying (40 per cent), future education (37 per cent) and friendships (34 per cent).

For boys, drugs and alcohol were the most pressing issues, with 42 per cent putting them at the top of their lists, followed by bullying/doing well at school (39 per cent), friendships (33 per cent), future education (32 per cent) and being healthy (31 per cent).

Girls put schoolwork at the top, with 53 per cent saying it was their biggest worry, followed by friendships (46 per cent), drugs and alcohol/future education (43 per cent), bullying (41 per cent) and being healthy (33 per cent).

Bullying was the biggest issue for seven to nine-year-olds, drugs and alcohol the main concern of 10 to 12-year-olds and doing well at school came top of the list for 13 to 16-year-olds in the survey, carried out by computer firm IRM.