Who’s most stressed out, why and what can we do about it?
Imagine an African American parent with money problems, no college degree and mental health issues. That’s the profile of the most stressed out people in the U.S.
What is stress? One definition is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them. Another is feeling forced to manage something beyond your control.
Who are the most stressed out? According to a recent survey by Mental Health America reported in InnerView Hawai‘i, the newsletter of Mental Health America of Hawai‘i, the most stressed out group in America are parents, 39 percent of whom feel stress from family, work and finances, among others. Reporting declining levels of stress are African Americans (38 percent), Native Americans (37 percent), Latinos and Asians (both 34 percent) and – least stressed – non-Hispanic Whites (30 percent).
By comparison, fully 72 percent of people living with mental illness report stress, primarily related to personal relationships with family members and significant others. By comparison, only 48 percent of Americans overall say finances give them stress.
As a group, college grads are relatively unstressed, largely because they tend to have fewer financial problems. More than half of those surveyed who didn’t have a degree said financial problems were stressors in their lives, while only 25 percent of college grads said they felt stress.
What causes stress? The leading cause is finances (48 percent), followed by health issues (34 percent) and jobs (32 percent). Employment-related stress ranges from on-the-job pressures to being unemployed. Latinos are more likely to suffer from employment-related stress (41 percent) than other groups, while financial pressure is significantly higher for Native Americans (57 percent) and African Americans (56 percent), as well as those without college educations (50 percent).
What can we do about it? The top six strategies Americans use to deal with stress are:
- Talk to a friend or family member (71 percent).
- Pray or meditate (62 percent).
- Exercise (55 percent).
- Eat (42 percent of women, 31 percent of men).
- Distractions (82 percent use TV, reading or music, 26 percent smoke, drink or do drugs; 1 percent cut or hurt themselves).
- Prescription drugs (12 percent).
The survey included interviews of 3,040 adults over 18 years old conducted in October and November 2006 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.75 percent. Click here for more information.
Mental Health America of Hawai‘i recently changed its name from the Mental Health Association in Hawai‘i, reflecting the name change of the national organization, Mental Health America, which until recently was the National Mental Health Association. MHA has 341 affiliates across the nation and describes itself as the oldest and largest nonprofit addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness.
