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.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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The rising phenomena of stress at work place is the one thing that has cropped up. Due to the increased pressure in the professional context, the event of piling up of the task and pressure would automatically lead to stress situations. The maintenance of public relations in the professional context is loosing its vigor and corporate professionals need to look after such issues too.
Thanks for information about this study. It will be very helpful in my coaching practice, especially since I “preach” self-care so much.