Why do young people

experience high stress levels?

Nordic Public Health conference Turku 2011

Pia Vedel Ankersen, S. Poulsen & F. Breinholt Larsen, Center for Public Health, Central

Denmark Region

Agenda

• Aim & Background

• Data and methods

• Results

• Conclusions

Aim & Background

Describe and explain why young people

experience high stress levels

Studies of young people’s wellbeing show

that young people experience high stress

levels

Study based on the health survey “How are

you?”, conducted in Central Denmark

Region, shows the same result

Data and methods I

Survey data Qualitative data based on

interviews

Questionnaire

• 16 years and older

• Random sample of 52.400 (2,500

respondents from 17 municipalities,

Aarhus 8,500 and Samsoe 1,400)

• Response rate of 65 pct. (34,584

respondents).

• From 16 years to 24 years sample

of 3902 response rate of 56 pct

Open interview (structured by themes)

• Personal interviews: 17

• Group interviews: 36 interviews with

4 resp. and 2 interviews with 3 resp.

• Background: Liable for military

service/draftee, High school

students, educational institution

specializing in technical studies,

young mothers, Health and social

education …

Data and methods II

Cohen’s Perceived Stress ScaleQuantitative questions

survey data

Data and methods III –

Qualitative dataInterview questions

– How are you?

– How is your day?

– Look at the questions (PSS)

– Are there anything you find hard or difficult?

Results

• Self-evaluated health

• Stress by age and gender

• Stress by educational level and occupation

• Experimenting for a path in life – a

stressful experience?

Figure 1. Proportion with bad self-evaluated

health – age and gender

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Pct

16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-79

Age

Male

Female

Figure 2. Proportion with high stress levels

(PSS>16) – age and gender

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Pct

16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-79

Age

Male

Femal

Figure 3. Proportion with high stress level

(PSS>16) age and gender

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Pct

16-18 19-21 22-24

Age

Male

Female

I. Experimenting for a path in life

– a stressful experience? I: So you learned something?

G: Yes – you learn a lot about yourself when

you are being pushed. Especially if you are

being pushed in areas where you don’t

expect to be challenged (Female, liable for

military service/draftee, PI).

II. Experimenting for a path in

life – a stressful experience?

• Relations and (new) situations

– Friends, parents

• Expectations

• Everyday life

• The wrong path in life

– Crime and drugs

III. Experimenting for a path in

life Relationships and situations

S: Well, she's schizophrenic. And have a split personality. So it's a little difficult just to find out what the hell is actually happening here? And so my father is an alcoholic. So he's been a little….. (Male, liable for military service/draftee, PI).

C: Everything has been hard for me.

I: How?

C: Well, first of all coming out as a lesbian, all the people I lost, and then figuring out how to behave with people. Suddenly I liked girls, right? People looked at me in a different way. People also noticed me more than before, because "Hey, that’s the girl that digs girls.” (Lesbian girl, PI).

IV. Experimenting for a path in

life Expectations

A: There was no room for being a little ignorant

pupil at all .. and after six months I just started to

cry every night, I was completely finished when I

came home from work. I could not, well, I did not

have anything left in me (Female, 19 years, jobs

Practice).

V. Experimenting for a path in

life Everyday life – finding time for everything

N: It’s stressful, when there’s several things we must do at the same time, that we must submit.. Well, it’s working late, I haven’t any time for myself, I don’t feel like I have (Female, 17 years SOSU, GI).

Jo: Yes, well, if it’s like big tasks, then you know that you have a lot of time before the task must be submitted. Then you don’t get started, and then you end up feeling stressed at the end (Male, 17 years, High School, GI)

M: Well, I really want to plan every day. Because I do a lot of sports. And then when something just piles up, and I can’t seem to fit it i, then it quickly gets…then it bothers me. And it influences everything, when I play or practice. Because it’s always in the back of my head, and irritates me. (Female 17 years, High School, GI).

VI. Experimenting for a path in

life The wrong path in life

M. I had some problems, when I was younger, because of some drugs and

stuff. And then I got away from it. It’s therefore that I have… half has been

sorted away (friends), and now I only have the ones left that I feel are my

good friends… Yes.. I don’t know, if you can call it a gang, but it was an

entire group controlling the area, where we lived. With drugs and all that

happened there.

I: And that was in XXX or what?

M: Yes. And also because of that, that I left it a little. That I could see for

myself, how friends became enemies, and stuff like that... All because of

money and drugs and... Yeah, well, I’m all right now, I don’t feel like there’s

any problems with my life. But I can see that many think, that when you do

hash and stuff like that, that’s not too smart, but I’m all right with it. (Male 24

years, Aarhus Tech, PI).

Conclusion

• Young people have a higher stress level

• Why?

• Finding a way in life

– Experiments

– Learning is when you are pushed

Figure 5. Self-evaluated life-quality

33

50

14

21

Good 83 % Fair/ bad 17 %

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Pct

Verygood

Good Fair Bad Verybad