How stressed are you? If you’re like 1 in 3 people involved in a study by the American Psychological Association (APA) called “Stress in America,” then you’re more stressed today than you were a year ago. The study analyzed stress by generation and found that stress levels are on the rise for all American adults regardless of their age.
According to the study, Millenials (age 18-33) are the most stressed, followed by Gen Xers (age 34-47), Boomers (age 48-66), and Matures (age 67 and older), respectively. Younger people also report experiencing a greater increase in stress levels over the past year.
What’s Stressing Us Out?
In terms of what’s stressing Americans out, responses for younger audiences focused around work, money, and job stability while the older demographics were more stressed by health issues and how those problems affect themselves and their families. That’s not to say that older generations aren’t stressed about work, but it does decrease from 76% of Millenials to 65% of GenXers, 62% of Boomers, and 39% of Matures. Of course, many people in the Matures demographic aren’t working, so the decrease in work-related stress reported by study participants isn’t surprising.
We’re Not Managing Stress Well
The study also found that stress weighs heaviest on young people and those young people have the hardest time managing their stress and achieving healthy lifestyles. Why are younger people having such a difficult time with stress? It could be that as we age, we realize that the things we felt stressed about when we were younger really aren’t that important after all. It could also be that we learn to manage stress more effectively as we get older. What do you think?
You can follow the link to read the complete study report, which is filled with statistics related to stress by generation.
