America's Most Stressed Out Generation

According to the American Psychological Association, America’s younger generations are the most stressed:

“Millennials,” those aged 18-33, are the most stressed-out generation in the country, according to the American Psychological Association’s annual Stress in America survey. The results were discussed at a press conference on Thursday.

1 in 2 College Graduates are Jobless or Underemployed

In a survey of 2,000 Americans, Millennials report a stress level of 5.4 out of 10, much higher than the Boomers’ 4.7 and the Matures’ 3.7, and 39 percent of Millennials said their stress levels had risen in the past year. This comes as a surprise, as many might expect that Boomers, who were hit-hard by the recession, to have the highest stress levels.

In fact higher stress levels were reported amongst every generation, most likely because of the economy, “but the expectations of Millennials are especially high. There’s a huge emphasis placed on school, and once they get out into the workplace Millennials discover that their academic achievements don’t translate,” Dr. Lynn Bufka, one of the psychologists who developed the Stress in America report, told Yahoo! Shine.

Given that college these days means buying into a lifetime of debt for degrees that are declining in value, it’s not hard to imagine why Millennials are stressed. But it’s more than just student loan debt and the economy.

As the Boomers move into retirement, it is the Millenials who will be called upon to shoulder the cost of an expansive federal government and huge entitlement obligations. It’s popular, in some circles, to call our current approach to national tax and spending policies “fiscal child abuse.” That’s an apt term, and the “children” being “abuseD” are the Millenials.