Stress is a common mental health problem that bothers all people despite their age, geographical location, gender, or race. Nowadays, more than 70% of people admit that they experience stress regularly (American Institute of Stress). However, my awareness of statistics is not the main problem. The comparison of what I know about stress and what my parents know shows that our youth differs. At this moment, I do want to clarify what outcomes are waiting for me. In this essay, my task is to understand why the experience of stress varies through generations regarding such factors as statistics, the level of knowledge, and personal attitudes.
I believe that statistics can be a helpful tool to comprehend why people of my age experience more stress than our parents did at our age. In the United States, the stress level among young adults has increased up to 30% in last 30 years (Sifferlin). People experience stress because of different reasons, including their problems at work, financial concerns, family issues, or love affairs. Today, it is easy to find a cause and admit that a person suffers from stress. Stress leads to heart problems and mental health disorders (Ross 15). Stress is a reason for and an outcome of millions of problems and diseases. Stress is everywhere. Still, the question is why stress was so insignificant and invisible when our parents were young.
The point is that it is not difficult for me to find a number of definitions of “stress”. In several seconds, I can read that “stress is how the brain and body respond to any demand” (“5 Things You Should Know about Stress”) or that stress may be chronic, acute, episodic, or posttraumatic (American Psychological Association). In less than five minutes, I can find several effective treatment plans and offers from psychologists and other supporters. Stress is not even a problem, but a product that can be used to earn money and control people. I am not sure that my parents or grandparents had similar knowledge about stress and its causes when they were my age. Even more, I have a thought that they were not exposed to stress the same way I am today. Therefore, the level of knowledge about stress is another explanation of stress level differences between generations.
Finally, an understanding and perception of stress depend on personal attitudes a lot. Modern teenagers and young adults are usually shaped by various social, political, and even economic events because of social media, current technologies, and 24/7 connection with the world (Divecha). People of my age make themselves open and vulnerable to different sources of stress without even thinking about why we do it and what future we can create. Our parents and grandparents had their own problems and challenges, but most of them came from the outside, and the task was to deal with them. Our generation experiences more stress compared to our grandparents because we create it first and then start thinking how to cope with it.
In general, I understand that it is hard to avoid stress today. Our parents and grandparents were lucky to experience a small portion of stressful situations when they were younger. Today’s young adults are so involved in technological progress, unlimited opportunities, globalization, and international relations that they cannot even notice how dangerous stress can be for them. It is high time to take a lesson from the past and re-evaluate stress in human life.
Works Cited
“5 Things You Should Know about Stress.” National Institute of Mental Health, 2017. Web.
American Institute of Stress. “What Is Stress?” AIS, 2017. Web.
American Psychological Association. “Stress.” APA, 2018. Web.
Divecha, Diana. “How Teens Today Are Different from Past Generations.” Greater Good Magazine, 2017. Web.
Ross, Catherine E. Social Causes of Psychological Distress. Routledge, 2017.
Sifferlin, Alexandra. “The Most Stressed-Out Generation? Young Adults.” Time, 2013. Web.