Why do young people experience high stress levels? Pia Vedel Ankersen, S. Poulsen & F. Breinholt Larsen, Center for Public Health, Central Denmark Region

1. 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

2. Agenda
• Aim & Background
• Data and methods
• Results
• Conclusions

3. 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

4. Data and methods I
Survey data Qualitative data based on
interviews
Questionnaire Open interview (structured by themes)
• 16 years and older • Personal interviews: 17
• Random sample of 52.400 (2,500 • Group interviews: 36 interviews with
respondents from 17 municipalities, 4 resp. and 2 interviews with 3 resp.
Aarhus 8,500 and Samsoe 1,400)
• Response rate of 65 pct. (34,584 • Background: Liable for military
respondents). service/draftee, High school
• From 16 years to 24 years sample students, educational institution
of 3902 response rate of 56 pct specializing in technical studies,
young mothers, Health and social
education …

5. Data and methods II
Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale
Quantitative questions
survey data

6. Data and methods III –
Qualitative data
Interview questions
– How are you?
– How is your day?
– Look at the questions (PSS)
– Are there anything you find hard or difficult?

7. Results
• Self-evaluated health
• Stress by age and gender
• Stress by educational level and occupation
• Experimenting for a path in life – a
stressful experience?

8. Figure 1. Proportion with bad self-evaluated
health – age and gender
Pct
30
25
20
15
10
Male
5
Female
0
16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-79
Age

9. Figure 2. Proportion with high stress levels
(PSS>16) – age and gender
Pct
Male
45
Femal
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-79
Age

10. Figure 3. Proportion with high stress level
(PSS>16) age and gender
Pct
Male
45
Female
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
16-18 19-21 22-24
Age

11. 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).

12. 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

13. 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).

14. 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).

15. 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).

16. 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).

17. Conclusion
• Young people have a higher stress level
• Why?
• Finding a way in life
– Experiments
– Learning is when you are pushed

18. Figure 5. Self-evaluated life-quality
Pct
Good 83 % Fair/ bad 17 %
60
50
50
40
33
30
20
14
10
2
1
0
Very Good Fair Bad Very
good bad