levels had a slight or no impact on their body or physical health
( 54 percent of teens vs. 39 percent of adults) or their mental
health ( 52 percent of teens vs. 43 percent of adults).
“It is alarming that the teen stress experience is so similar to
that of adults,” says APA CEO Norman B. Anderson, PhD. “It
is even more concerning that they seem to underestimate the
potential impact that stress has on their physical and mental
health.”
To break this cycle of stress and unhealthy behaviors, says
Anderson, “we need to provide teens with better support and
health education at school and home, at the community level
and in their interactions with health-care professionals.”
Too few managing stress
Few teens said their stress was on the decline — only 16
percent reported that their stress decreased in the past year —
while approximately twice as many said their stress increased
in the past year ( 31 percent) or believed their stress level will
increase in the coming year ( 34 percent).
Nearly half of teens ( 42 percent) reported they were not
doing enough or were not sure if they were doing enough to
manage their stress, and more than one in 10 ( 13 percent) said
they never set aside time to manage stress.
Similarly, stress continued to be a problem for many
adults, while high stress and ineffective coping mechanisms
remain ingrained in American culture. Forty-two percent of
adults reported that their stress level had increased and 36
percent said their stress level had stayed the same over the past
five years. Adults’ average reported stress level was 5. 1 on a
10-point scale, far higher than the level of stress they believe is
healthy ( 3. 6).
Even though the majority of adults said that stress
management is important to them, few set aside the time they
need to manage it. Some adults said they take no action to help
manage their stress — one in 10 adults ( 10 percent) said they
do not engage in any stress management activities. More than
one-third ( 36 percent) of adults said stress affects their overall
happiness a great deal or a lot and 43 percent of adults who
exercise to relieve stress had skipped exercise due to stress in the
past month.
Influence of stress on health behaviors
The survey also explored the relationship between stress and
such health behaviors as sleep, exercise and eating — behaviors
that people said are important to them but that the survey
showed are negatively affected by stress. Survey findings
