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UA researcher finds small things add up to big problems

Professor compares stress of college students to other adults

By interviewing more than 1,500 randomly selected people across the country and students in family studies, a UA researcher has found that the most common stresses in peoples daily lives are, in fact, the most common things.

David Almeida, an assistant professor in family studies, found that the major stresses aren't money concerns or traffic tickets, but small daily activities such as hunting for parking spaces, running late or dealing with rude people.

Almeida has also found that what most distressed the adult working population was considerably different from what stressed college students.

"It doesn't seem like university life is the most carefree time, and adults shouldn't assume that it is," Almeida said.

By distributing surveys in his classes, Almeida has begun compiling information on the dominant stresses in college life.

He found that the primary stress for college students is college itself. Among the most often given responses were tests, grades, dealing with professors and getting up early.

The next most common stress for college students was time management followed by relationships, finances and parking.

Almeida also found that young people often remember being much more upset than they really were.

After asking people to reflect on their entire week, the young often most vividly recall the worst times during the week, and this seemed to dominate their mood throughout the entire week.

"I think that it's part of the wisdom of growing older - part of maturing," Almeida said. "We eventually learn to deal with irritations and put them in perspective."

Almeida also found that much of the stress that people experience comes from their closest relations, such as friends, relatives, children, co-workers or spouses.

Researchers called 1,500 participants in 48 different states on eight consecutive days and asked questions about arguments or disagreements that occurred during the day, stresses at work, school or home, experiences with discrimination, as well as anything that happened to someone else that they believed had caused them stress.

At the end of this period, many of the participants expressed sadness at the fact that the phone calls would stop as they had come to enjoy having someone to discuss their lives with, Almeida said.

Participants' biggest stresses, according to Almeida's survey, were arguments or tense moments. These were followed by work disagreements, concern for the physical health of others, work overload and finally, worries about other people's problems.

Financial issues appeared in the sixth position.

Though financial concerns did not make the top five, Almeida found that an individual's financial position affects the kinds of stress experienced.

"Who you are and your station in life lead to different stresses," Almeida said.

Yet, all of the news was not negative. This research demonstrates that Americans are very concerned about helping one another. In general, younger people give practical, hands-on help, the middle-aged give emotional support and older people often contribute money.

Family stresses are more likely to lead to work stresses in the lower class while work stresses are more likely to lead to family stresses in the upper -class population.

This study also demonstrated the link between health and stress. On days when people reported a great deal of daily stress, they were two to three times more likely to also report stomach pains, headaches and muscle cramps.

Almeida found considerable differences between men and women as well. Women were more often affected by the moods of those around them, such as children or friends. Men on the other hand reported stress at work much more often.

Age also seemed to affect levels of stress. Women between the ages of 35 and 45 reported stressful days 50 percent of the time, while women over 60 reported stress only 30 percent of the time.

For men, the most stressful years appear to be between 25 and 34 when half of their days were reported as stressful. Among men over 60, only about 20 percent of the time was reported as being stressful.

Of the 1,500 people participating in the study, 250 are twin pairs with half of this number identical and half fraternal. Almeida will be evaluating whether stresses between twins are more similar than between two random people.

Only 8 percent of those surveyed did not report any stresses.

This research will have implications for future public policies, work place decisions, health programs and family counseling as daily stresses are thought to affect physical and psychological health as much as big events such as divorces and deaths, Almeida said.

He added that such a wealth of information was gleaned from this study that it will take him years to evaluate the information.

Yet, he believes that this is time well spent.

"We can't make intelligent changes in our lives unless we can objectively see what's going on," Almeida said.

This research is part of a larger project being funded by the MacArthur foundation that focuses on mid-life in the United States.

This Foundation is a private organization that seeks to improve human quality of life.