The American Psychological Association’s (APA) have released the results of the 2010 Stress in America survey that shows up the long-term impact that chronic stress could have on physical and emotional health and the health of the families. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive in August 2010. It showed some worrying trends of stress among parents as well as children.
Psychologist Norman B. Anderson APA’s chief executive officer and executive vice president said, “America is at a critical crossroads when it comes to stress and our health…Year after year nearly three-quarters of Americans say they experience stress at levels that exceed what they define as healthy, putting themselves at risk for developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and depression. Stress is hurting our physical and emotional health and contributing to some of the leading causes of death in this country. People are also saying they have difficulty implementing the changes they know will decrease their stress and improve their health. Yet, our health care system is not adequately addressing this issue or providing the behavioural health treatments that can help Americans. All of us, including the medical community, need to take stress seriously since stress could easily become our next public health crisis.”
Results also showed that overweight children worried more than normal weight children (31 percent vs. 14 percent). Overweight children are also significantly more likely than normal-weight children to report the way they look/their weight as something they worry about (36 percent vs. 11 percent). Children who believe they are overweight are more likely to report that their parents are stressed out always or often than children who believe they are normal weight (39 percent vs. 30 percent). Children who are overweight are more likely than children who are normal weight to report that in the past month they have experienced physical and emotional symptoms such as trouble falling asleep (48 percent vs. 33 percent), headaches (43 percent vs. 28 percent), eating too much or too little (48 percent vs. 16 percent) or feeling angry or getting into fights (22 percent vs. 13 percent), all symptoms commonly associated with stress.
Rising stress is also affecting families in general. 32% parents report that their stress levels are extreme (a level of 8 - 10 on a 10-point scale) and parents overall say they are living with stress levels that exceed their definition of healthy (parents report an average stress level of 6.1 on a 10-point scale while the average healthy level of stress reported by parents is a 3.9). Only 32% of stressed parents feel they are coping with stress.
Ninety-one percent of 1,136 young people ages 8-17 surveyed cite ways they know parents are stressed, largely by their behaviour. These children of stressed parents are stressed too (17 percent vs. 2 percent). Nearly half of preteens (47 percent) and one-third of teens (33 percent) say they feel sad; one third of preteens (36 percent) and 43 percent of teens say they feel worried; and one-quarter (25 percent) of preteens and 38 percent of teens say they feel frustrated when their parents are stressed.
Psychologist Katherine C. Nordal APA’s executive director for professional practice, said, “Even though children know when their parents are stressed and admit that it directly affects them, parents are grossly underestimating the impact that their stress is having on their children…It’s critical that parents communicate with their children about how to identify stress triggers and manage stress in healthy ways while they’re young and still developing behavioural patterns. If children don’t learn these lessons early on, it could significantly impact their physical health and emotional well-being down the road, especially as they become adults.”
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