Who gets stress?
All of us can get stress. It is very hard to work out who will get stress. But two factors do stand out:
Your sex
Women seem to be more prone to stress than men. Is this because they are weaker? No. There are four points to be made here:
- Women still often have the short end of the stick. They may work but still, on the whole, do more about the house and with the children than men. Upbringing may also play a part.
- Women also seem to be more in touch with their emotions than many men. This may help them see they have a stress problem. This means they are more apt to seek and accept help. Men may have the same signs and symptoms yet do not realise these are due to stress
- Men may also drink as a way of coping with stress. Men are three times as likely to have a problem with drink as women. Maybe more men start off with a stress problem, drink to try to control it and end up with a drink problem on top of the stress.
- Men are more likely to see stress as a sign of weakness. So they may be more afraid to admit to being stressed. In a recent survey, three out of every four men said they would not tell their GP they were stressed in case the GP thought they were 'unbalanced', or 'neurotic'. This stigma seems to be stronger among working class men. Thus, men may work harder to hide it.
Social factors
As you would expect, stress is more likely, the more problems you have in life - illness in the family, problems with the neighbours, debt, problems at work, etc.
Those living in the poorest areas are much more likely to have a stress problem (they are also much more likely to suffer from a range of physical illnesses.) However, it's not simply about money - people who are very well-off can also have terrible problems with stress.
Age
Teenage years are the time when we make decisions that will affect the rest of our lives - should we stay on at school, should we try to go on to University?, what kind of job would we like? what relationships would we like?. It seems clear that mental health problems at this stage in your life can badly affect all these areas and have long-lasting effects.
Teenagers are much less likely to seek or be offered therapy than people who have an onset in their thirties. This means that problems in teenage years get a chance to strengthen just at a time when teenagers are being asked to make important decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Research in the USA has shown that for people with anxiety, depression and panic, there is an average delay of between 6 and 14 years between the onset of the problems and receiving therapy.
Teenagers who have problems with stress in the US are much less likely to complete High School. Failing to do well at school can affect the rest of your life, e.g. less money, poorer job prospects and even poorer health.
Teenagers with a stress problem are three times more likely to become parents in teen years. They tend to have poorer relationships and find it harder getting a job, or at least, a decent job. Teen mothers are much more likely to be on benefits and find it hard to come off these benefits. It also looks like children of teenage parents find it harder to cope.
Marriage and marital stability
Marriage seems to be good for most people. Men, in particular, get a lot of support from marriage. People who are married often have better health, are more financial security and have more social support than those not married. Divorce often leads to a lot of stress, financial insecurity, physical illness and lower levels of general satisfaction in life. However, compared to those who marry later, teenage marriage is associated with future difficulties including marital problems, being poorer, don’t do as well in jobs and have more problems with child-care.
Those who get stress in early teenage years are more likely to marry by the age of eighteen than those without. These teenagers have a greater risk of divorce than others. Those who get stress in at this time are about half as likely to still be married as those with no early onset disorder. This study also found that those with early onset disorders who did not marry by this age were less likely to marry later compared to others.
It seems likely that those with mental health problems benefit from stable marital relationships and suffer when these relationships are disrupted. It is possible that the mental health problems can create problems in relationships. This increases the risk of divorce.
