A new survey revealed that money is still the top instigator of stress in Americans, despite the improving economy.
Parents, younger people and those living in lower-income households reported the highest levels of stress, the American Psychological Association reported.
"Regardless of the economic climate, money and finances have remained the top stressor since our survey began in 2007. Furthermore, this year's survey shows that stress related to financial issues could have a significant impact on Americans' health and well-being," said APA CEO and Executive Vice President Norman B. Anderson.
The study looked at 3,068 adults in August 2014 and found 72 percent reported feeling stressed out about money at least once over the past month. Twenty-two percent said that they had experienced extreme stress about money over the previous month and 64 percent of the participants said money was a "somewhat significant" source of stress overall.
Stress about money seemed to have a noticeable impact on many of the participants' lives, such as forcing them to put their health care on hold and putting strain on romantic and marital relationships. Despite these findings, the researchers found stress levels in Americans are trending downward, and Americans who say they have someone they can turn to for emotional support appeared to be the least stressed out.
"This year's survey continues to reinforce the idea that we are living with a level of stress that we consider too high," Anderson said. "Despite the good news that overall stress levels are down, it appears that the idea of living with stress higher than what we believe to be healthy and dealing with it in ineffective ways continues to be embedded in our culture. All Americans, and particularly those groups that are most affected by stress - which include women, younger adults and those with lower incomes - need to address this issue sooner than later in order to better their health and well-being."
