STEPS

Facts from Britain

This survey took place across Britain in the 1990s:

Main findings

• One in six adults between the ages of 16 and 24 had a common mental health problem (stress) in the week before they took part in the survey. This makes stress by far the most common mental health problem. In comparison:
  • 1 in 20 had a problem with drink
  • 1 in 40 had a problem with drugs
  • 1 in 500 had a psychotic problem
• Stress here does not mean a fit of the blues or feeling a bit uptight. It means a level of problem that badly affects your life (and ,often, the lives of those close to you)
• By far the most common was a mix of anxiety and depression.
• The most common symptoms were fatigue, sleep problems, irritability and worry
• Women were about twice as likely to have these problems than men.
• Stress was more common among those who lived in towns and cities compared to hose who lived in the country
• There was a strong link between poor physical health and poor mental health.
• One in four people with stress had not been to the doctor often because they felt no-one could help (other evidence suggests this figure rises to one in two in the poorest areas).

In Britain, half of those questioned had personal experience of depression:

Drink / drugs

• Men were more than three times more likely than women to have a drink problem
• Men were twice as likely than women to have a drug problem

Relationships

• Stress problems were more common in those who are separated, divorced and widowed.
• Stress was more common in women who were living with a partner compared to married women.
• But married women with young children and full-time jobs may be at higher risk than either unemployed married women with children or employed married women without children
• Single parents were twice as likely to have a mental health problem

Being out of work

• Being out of work doubled your risk of having a stress or drink problem (this risk clears as soon as you get a new job).
• Those out of work were five times more likely to have a drugs problem than those in work.

Being homeless

• One in three homeless people staying in hostels had a stress problem.
• One in two people staying in homeless shelters or sleeping rough had a stress problem.