Authors: American Psycological Association

Publication Year: 2012

Last Updated: 2015-12-28

Journal: American Psycological Association

Keywords: American Psychological Association, stress, health risk, HHS, chronically ill, caregiver, fair or poor health, obesity, depression, general public

Abstract:

The American Psychological Association's (APA) newly released report, Stress in America™: Our Health at Risk, paints a troubling picture of the impact stress has on the health of the country, especially caregivers and people livingwith a chronic illness such as obesity or depression.The Stress in America survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of AP A among 1,226 U.S. residents in August and September, showed that many Americans consistently report high levels of stress (22 percent reported extreme stress, an 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale where 1 is little or no stress and 10 is a great deal of stress). While reported average stress levels have dipped slightly since the last survey (5.2 on a 10-point scale vs. 5.4 in 2010) many Americans continue to report that their stress has actually increased over time (39 percent report their stress has increasedover the past year and 44 percent say their stress has increased over the past 5 years). Yet stress levels exceed people's owndefinition of what is healthy, with the mean rating for stress of 5.2 on a 10-point scale- 1.6 points higher than the stresslevel Americans reported as healthy.

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Source: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2012/01/chronic-disease