SHESPEAKS Your Power to Influence

Everyone experiences stress at one time or another, but if you’re between the ages of 18 and 33 there’s a good chance that your stress levels are pretty high right now. The “Millenial” generation it seems is stricken with rising stress levels while every other group in the country is seeing a decline in stress.

CBS News reports about a new survey conducted by The American Psychological Association and Harris Interactive that finds millennials are experiencing stress levels of about 5.4 on a scale of 10. Researchers define a healthy stress level as anything 3.6 or below. Even more surprising about the millennials’ heightened stress is that we saw a big decline in stress levels for others between 2011 and 2012 with levels dropping from 5.2 to 4.9.

So what’s making this particular age group bogged down with added stress? Mike Hais, a market researcher and co-author of two books on millennials, explains his theory on why they’re stressing at higher rates. Hais says, “Millennials are growing up at a tough time. They were sheltered in many ways, with a lot of high expectations for what they should achieve. Individual failure is difficult to accept when confronted with a sense you're an important person and expected to achieve. Even though, in most instances, it's not their fault -- the economy collapsed just as many of them were getting out of college and coming of age -- that does lead to a greater sense of stress.”

What do you think of the study that find millennials suffer from greater stress levels than any other age group?

Why do you think those between the ages of 18 and 33 are seeing higher stress levels now?