Older People Experience Much Less Stress Than Younger Americans

October 9, 2006 - We live in a world with many sources of stress, with many things to do and to worry about, says a new Harris Poll. These include the pressures of life at work and at home, problems with money, health, loneliness, children and privacy, but when it comes to senior citizens – at least those 61 and older – these problems just disappear. Only nine percent of these older Americans say they experience "a lot of stress," compared to 25% or more of younger generations.

Who Experiences a Lot of Stress

All Adults

23%

AGE GROUPS

Echo Boomers (age 18-29)

29%

Gen. X (age 30-41)

28%

Baby Boomers (age 42-60)

25%

Matures (age 61+)

9%

While "baby boomers" (aged 42 to 60), like those younger than them, are subject to many sources of stress, the matures are much less stressed.

They are by a wide margin less likely to worry about having too many things to do, to have concerns about money for emergencies or basic necessities, to feel that they have too much information to process at anyone time or (and this may be a surprise) to feel lonely. Indeed, the younger the people are, the more likely they are to experience loneliness.

Interestingly, older Americans are even much less likely to say they have been lonely in the last month. The results of those feeling lonely be age group were 45 percent of "echo boomers" (aged 18 to 29), 31 percent of "generation Xers" (aged 30 to 41), 24 percent of baby boomers and 18 percent of matures.

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Among all adults

When shown a list of 14 different "hassles" which tend to be associated with stress the hassles which are experienced by the largest numbers of people are related to money (rising prices, 74%; concerns about money for emergencies, 53% and not having enough money for basic necessities, 36%); having too many things to do (56%); having trouble sleeping (53%); concerns about health (43%); and the illness of a family member (36%).

Many, but fewer, people say they experienced having too much information to process at any one time (33%), feeling lonely (29%) or problems at work (24%). And, of course, some people experience many more hassles, and experience much more stress than others.

These are some of the results of a nationwide survey of 2,747 adults surveyed online between September 7 and 13, 2006.

Other variations among different demographic groups

There are many other differences between different demographic groups. For example:

● Unsurprisingly, those with low household incomes are much more likely to experience problems with rising prices and to have concerns about money for emergencies and basic necessities. On the other hand, those with higher household incomes are more likely to feel that they have too many things to do, to have problems at work or have problems with aging parents.

● Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered (GLBT) are more likely than heterosexuals to have concerns about their health or to worry about money and to be lonely.

● People with disabilities experience more stress and more hassles than other people in relation to money, sleeping, health and loneliness.

Hassles are highly correlated with feeling stressed

The survey finds very strong associations between almost all of the 14 hassles and feeling stressed. For example:

● Fully 80 percent of those who experience a lot of stress say that they have had too many things to do in the last month. This falls to only 29 percent of those who do not experience much stress.

● Fully 76 percent of those who experience a lot of stress say they had trouble sleeping compared to only 29 percent of those with little stress.

● Fully 71 percent of those who have a lot of stress say they experienced concerns about money for emergencies in the last month compared to only 30 percent among those whose lives are not much stressed.

A recent survey published in The Journal of the American Medical Association compared the health status of comparable groups (middle-aged whites) in England and the United States and found that Americans were much more likely than their English counterparts to suffer from seven common diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and cancer.

The research did not set out to explain these differences. However, one hypothesis is that Americans tend to experience more stress than the English. And, of course, a growing body of research has reported that increased stress is associated with higher incidence of a number of common diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

TABLE 1
THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED 14 "HASSLES" IN THE LAST MONTH

"Have you experienced the following in the past month?"

Base: All Adults

	September 2006	2000	2002
	%	%	%
Rising prices	74	77	69
Too many things to do	56	57	62
Trouble sleeping	53	N/A	N/A
Concerns about money for emergencies	53	51	51
Concerns about health in general	43	48	47
Illness of a family member	36	42	37
Not enough money for basic necessities	36	33	35
Too much information to process at one time	33	N/A	N/A
Being lonely	29	18	15
Problems with your work, boss or fellow workers	24	22	20
Problems with aging parents	21	22	23
Frequent or excessive noise	20	17	18
Problems with my children	19	N/A	N/A
Abuse of your personal privacy	13	15	18
Average Score (see note 3)	35	34	33

Notes:

1. The 2000 and 2002 surveys were conducted by telephone, while this survey was conducted online

2. The question asked in 2000 and 2002 was slightly different. "Please tell me if (read item) has affected you in the last month or not?"

3. Average score is based on the 12 items which were asked in all three surveys.

TABLE 2A
THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED 14 HASSLES – BY GENERATION AND GENDER

"Have you experienced the following in the past month?"

Those saying "Yes"

Base: All Adults

	Total	Generation				Gender
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-20)	Gen X (30-41)	Baby Boomers (42-60)	Matures (61+)	Male	Female
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rising prices	74	66	79	75	74	70	77
Too many things to do	56	70	66	59	27	54	58
Trouble sleeping	53	53	62	55	41	46	60
Concerns about money for emergencies	53	51	65	60	28	46	59
Concerns about health in general	43	40	42	45	41	37	48
Illness of a family member	36	36	33	39	36	33	39
Not enough money for basic necessities	36	38	50	38	17	31	41
Too much information to process at one time	33	43	38	34	18	29	37
Being lonely	29	45	31	24	18	26	32
Problems with my work, boss or fellow workers	24	32	28	28	5	26	22
Problems with aging parents	21	16	20	30	10	20	21
Frequent or excessive noise	20	29	22	19	11	20	20
Problems with my children	19	9	26	24	14	14	24
Abuse of my personal privacy	13	15	11	14	9	13	12

TABLE 2B
THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED 14 HASSLES – BY RACE AND PARTY

"Have you experienced the following in the past month?"

Those saying "Yes"

Base: All Adults

	Total	Race			Party ID
	Total	White	Black	Hispanic	Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rising prices	74	74	77	75	65	80	75
Too many things to do	56	56	53	58	56	56	54
Trouble sleeping	53	54	53	54	50	57	50
Concerns about money for emergencies	53	51	68	52	47	55	53
Concerns about health in general	43	42	51	39	36	47	43
Illness of a family member	36	35	45	40	34	40	37
Not enough money for basic necessities	36	33	53	44	31	40	33
Too much information to process at one time	33	33	25	42	31	37	30
Being lonely	29	30	25	31	25	31	28
Problems with my work, boss or fellow workers	24	24	22	22	24	25	22
Problems with aging parents	21	19	26	25	19	23	22
Frequent or excessive noise	20	20	17	20	18	19	22
Problems with my children	19	20	23	21	17	20	19
Abuse of my personal privacy	13	10	16	14	10	13	15

TABLE 3A
THOSE WHO EXPERIENCED 14 HASSLES – BY INCOME

"Have you experienced the following in the past month?"

Those saying "Yes"

Base: All Adults

	Total	Income
	Total	$15K-$24.9K	$25K-$34,9K	$35K-$49,9K	$50K-$74,9K	$75K+
	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rising prices	74	89	79	78	74	66
Too many things to do	56	52	53	58	59	62
Trouble sleeping	53	56	61	57	48	51
Concerns about money for emergencies	53	71	66	58	56	41
Concerns about health in general	43	50	52	42	40	37
Illness of a family member	36	41