Page 12
The INDEPENDENT, December 3, 2009
Survey discusses parent perceptions of their children’s stress
Stress related to school
pressure and family finances
has a greater impact on young
people than parents believe,
according to a new national sur-
vey released today by the
American Psychological Asso-
ciation (APA). Building on past
research indicating that stress
is a top health concern for U.S.
teens between 9th and 12th
grade, psychologists say that if
they don’t learn healthy ways to
manage that stress now, it
could have serious long-term
health implications.
Teens and tweens were
more likely than parents to say
that their stress had increased
in the last year. Nearly half (45
percent) of teens ages 13-17
said that they worried more this
year, but only 28 percent of par-
ents think their teen’s stress in-
creased, and while a quarter
(26 percent) of tweens ages 8-
12 said they worried more this
year, only 17 percent of parents
believed their tween’s stress
had increased. Similarly, only 2-
5 percent of parents rate their
child’s stress as extreme (an 8,
9 or 10 on a 10-point scale)
when 14 percent of tweens and
28 percent of teens say they
worry a lot or a great deal.
“It’s clear that parents do not
fully appreciate the impact that
stress is having on their kids,”
said psychologist Katherine C.
Nordal, PhD, APA’s executive
director for professional prac-
tice. “What we’re seeing with
stress is in line with existing re-
search about parents’ percep-
tion of their kids’ engagement in
risky behaviors. Parents often
under report drug use, depres-
sion and sexual activity in their
children. Now it appears the
same may be true for stress.”
Parents’ responses about
sources of stress for their chil-
dren were out of sync with what
children reported as sources of
worry. Children were more like-
ly to say they worried about
their family’s financial difficul-
ties than parents were to say
this was a source of stress for
their children (30 percent vs. 18
percent of parents). Results are
similar for doing well in school
(44 percent vs. 34 percent of
parents). In general, children
also were more likely to report
having experienced physical
symptoms often associated
with stress than parents were to
say their children experienced
these symptoms, including
headaches, difficulty sleeping,
and changes in appetite.
• Tweens (30 percent) and
teens (42 percent) say they get
headaches vs. 13 percent of
parents
• Tweens (39 percent) and
teens (49 percent) cite difficulty
sleeping vs. 13 percent of par-
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• Tweens (27 percent) and
teens (39 percent) report eating
too much or too little vs. 8 per-
cent of parents
Stress in America survey re-
sults show that adults continue
to report high levels of stress
and many report that their
stress has increased over the
past year. Additionally, many
adults are reporting physical
symptoms of stress.
Seventy-five percent of
adults reported experiencing
moderate to high levels of
stress in the past month (24
percent extreme, 51 percent
moderate) and nearly half re-
ported that their stress has in-
creased in the past year (42
percent). Nearly half (43 per-
cent) of adults say they eat too
much or eat unhealthy foods as
a result of stress. Thirty-seven
percent report skipping a meal
because they were under
stress.
While 44 percent of adults
report that they exercise or walk
to relieve stress, many Ameri-
cans also say they rely on more
sedentary activities to manage
stress (49 percent listen to mu-
sic, 41 percent read, 36 percent
watch TV or movies more than
two hours per day, and 33 per-
cent play video games.) While
these activities may be helpful
in alleviating stress, they do not
provide the extra benefit of im-
proving overall physical health
or maintaining a more healthy
weight that more active forms of
stress management afford.
Overall, many adults say
they have felt the physical ef-
fects of stress in the past
month:
• 47 percent of all adults re-
port that they have lain awake
at night;
• 45 percent report irritability
or anger;
• 43 percent report fatigue;
• 40 percent report lack of in-
terest, motivation or energy;
•
34
percent
report
headaches;
• 34 percent report feeling
depressed or sad;
• 32 percent report feeling as
though they could cry; and
• 27 percent report upset
stomach or indigestion as a re-
sult of stress.
“The prevalence with which
Americans continue to report
increasing and extreme stress
levels is a real concern,” said
Dr. Nordal. “Also, people say
that their levels of stress and
lack of willpower are preventing
them from making lifestyle and
behavior changes that are nec-
essary for improving and main-
taining good health. It’s clear
that people need tools and sup-
port to better manage extreme
stress in order to prevent seri-
ous health consequences. Un-
fortunately, our current health-
care system does not do a very
good job in this regard. And in-
surance companies often don’t
cover preventive services or the
kinds of services people need
in order to better manage
chronic illness.”
Two-thirds (66 percent) of
adults living in the U.S. have
been told by a health care
Super Quiet
Portable Power
provider that they have one or
more chronic conditions, most
commonly high blood pressure
or high cholesterol. The vast
majority of adults indicated that
their health care provider rec-
ommended lifestyle and behav-
ior changes (70 percent).
Few adults reported that
their health care provider of-
fered support to help them
make lasting changes: only 46
percent were given an explana-
tion for the recommendation;
only 35 percent were offered
advice or shown techniques to
help make changes; and only
5-10 percent were referred to
another health care provider to
support the adoption of lifestyle
changes. Further, only 48 per-
cent of adults reported that their
health care providers followed
up with them to check on their
progress in making lifestyle and
behavior changes – such as
quitting smoking, getting more
sleep, reducing stress, exercis-
ing, losing weight and choosing
healthier foods.
In general, people cited a
number of barriers in their ef-
forts to make lasting lifestyle
and behavior changes – lack of
willpower (33 percent); not
enough time (20 percent); and
lack of confidence (14 percent).
More than one in ten people cit-
ed stress as the barrier prevent-
ing them from making lifestyle
and behavior changes (14 per-
cent of adults reported they are
too stressed to make these
changes).
Stress in America is part of
APA’s Mind/Body Health public
education campaign. For addi-
tional information on stress and
lifestyle and behavior, visit
www.apahelpcenter.org, read
the campaign blog www.your-
mindyourbody.org, and follow
@apahelpcenter on Twitter.
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