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During the school year teens rate their stress at 5.8 out of 10
Adults average reported stress level is 5.1 out of 10
During summer teens reported a stress level of 4.6
Stress and sleep: When adults do not get enough sleep, 21 percent report feeling more
stressed. On average, teens report sleeping far less than the recommended amount 7.4 hours
on school nights and 8.1 hours on non-school nights, compared with the 8.5 to 9.25 hours
recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. Nearly 1 in 5 teens (18 percent) say that when
they do not get enough sleep, they are more stressed and 36 percent of teens report feeling tired
because of stress in the past month.
Stress and exercise: Though people say they experience positive benefits from exercise,
such as a better mood and lessstress, few say they make the time to exercise every day. The
survey found that more than one-third of adults (37 percent) and 1 in 5 teens (20 percent) report
exercising less than once a week or not at all. Teens who report high stress during the past school
year also say they spend an average of 3.2 hours online a day, compared with two hours among
those reporting lowstress levels during the past school year.
Stress and eating: Twenty-seven percent of adults say they eat to manage stress and 34
percent of those who report overeating or eating unhealthy foods because of stress say this
behavior is a habit. Of the 23 percent of teens who report skipping a meal in the past month due
to stress, 39 percent say they do this weekly or more.
Parents and other adults can play a critical role in helping teens get a handle on stress by
modeling healthy stress management behaviors, says Anderson. When spending time
with teens, we can encourage them to exercise, eat well, get the sleep they need and seek support
from health care professionals like psychologists to help them develop healthier coping
mechanisms for stresssooner rather than later.
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Methodology
The Stress in America survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris
Interactive Inc., on behalf of the American Psychological Association between Aug. 3-31, 2013,
among 1,950 adults ages 18 and over and 1,018 teens, ages 13 to 17, who reside in the U.S. This
online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimates of theoretical
sampling error can be calculated. To read the full methodology, including the weighting
variables, visit APA's Stress in America Press Room.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and
professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APAs membership
includes more than 134,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
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