Stress Levels Shot Up For Americans Last Year: Poll

By R. Siva Kumar - 11 Mar '16 08:58AM

Now here is some news that could raise your blood pressure. Stress levels increased significantly last year for Americans, according to a newly released survey by the American Psychological Association.

The average stress levels rose from 4.9 in 2014 to 5.1 in 2015 on a 10-point scale. Zero indicated "little to no stress" while 10 pointed to "a great deal of stress."

The survey, an annual practice since 2007, reached 3,361 adults in August 2015.

But even if your stress does not increase when you examine the 0.2 point rise last year, just hold on. There is more bad news. Researchers noted that the number of Americans who said that they were under "extreme stress" showed a more worrying rise---from 18 percent to 24 percent.

The main factors that led to stress included money and work, with 67 percent agreeing that money stressed them out while 65 percent pointed to work responsibilities.

The third in the list was family responsibilities, at 54 percent, followed by personal health issues touching 51 percent.

Other factors included discrimination. About 61 percent of the participants agreed that they faced some kind of discrimination every day. This could range from unfair treatment to being threatened or harassed.

"It's clear that discrimination is widespread and impacts many people, whether it is due to race, ethnicity, age, disability, gender or sexual orientation," Jaime Diaz-Granados, APA's executive director for education, said in a news release. "And when people frequently experience unfair treatment, it can contribute to increased stress and poorer health."

"Stress takes a toll on our health, and nearly one-quarter of all adults say they don't always have access to the health care they need," said Cynthia Belar, the association's interim chief executive officer. "In particular, Hispanics - who reported the highest stress levels - were more likely to say they can't access a non-emergency doctor when they need one. This year's survey shows that certain subsets of our population are less healthy than others and are not receiving the same level of care as adults in general. This is an issue that must be addressed."