WASHINGTON — “Don’t stress out.” It’s good advice, and it looks like Americans are taking it.
USA TODAY reports that an annual survey released by the American Psychological Association shows that Americans are feeling less stressed than last year, and much less than back before the recession began.
The survey asked more than 3,000 people to rate their stress on a scale of 1 (“little to no stress”) to 10 (“a great deal of stress”), and the average for 2014 was 4.9, down from 5.1 in 2013. The first average, in 2007, was 6.2.
We’re not equally relaxed, though — the survey shows that parents with children under 18, women, poor people and young adults are still feeling plenty of stress.
Some of the conclusions are pretty obvious — lower-income people reported feeling more stress about money; 77 percent of parents and 75 percent of young adults say money is a significant factor, against 64 percent of all Americans in the survey.
“Think about the demands placed on anyone in those groups,” psychologist Lynn Bufka, an assistant executive director at the association, said to USA TODAY.
Women, and especially mothers, Bufka says, have to deal with the stress of balancing work and home balance. Parents with young children are always worried about them, and young adults have entered the workforce at a tough time.
As for low-income families, she says it is no surprise that they are more stressed constantly trying to decide what they can afford.
