{"id":69875,"date":"2022-12-02T07:54:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T13:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=69875"},"modified":"2024-04-06T06:13:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T06:13:03","slug":"experiences-of-daily-stress-decrease-as-people-age","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/experiences-of-daily-stress-decrease-as-people-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiences of Daily Stress Decrease as People Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The number of daily stressors and people\u2019s reactivity to daily stressors decreases as we age, a new study reports.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Penn State<\/em><\/p>\n

Stories about how daily stress can negatively impact people\u2019s lives, from physical health to mental and emotional well-being, are frequently in the media. But there is good news about the experience of daily stress as people age.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Results from a recent research study led by David Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State,\u00a0showed that the number of daily stressors and people\u2019s reactivity to daily stressors decreases with age.<\/p>\n

The findings were published in the journal\u00a0Developmental Psychology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about growing old that leads to fewer stressors,\u201d said Almeida. \u201cThis could be the types of social roles that we fill as we age. As younger people, we may be juggling more, including jobs, families and homes, all of which create instances of daily stress. But as we age, our social roles and motivations change. Older people talk about wanting to maximize and enjoy the time they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research team utilized data from the\u00a0National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE), a national study led by\u00a0Almeida at Penn State that has collected comprehensive data on daily life from over 40,000 days in the lives of more than 3,000 adults across a 20-year time span, starting in 1995.<\/p>\n

Respondents were aged 25 to 74 when the study began and were invited to participate in the NSDE from the larger Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project led by the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison Institute on Aging.<\/p>\n

Respondents participated in telephone interviews that assessed daily levels of stress for eight consecutive days.\u00a0 These daily assessments were repeated at approximately nine-year intervals, providing a longitudinal daily diary across 20 years.<\/p>\n

The researchers noted a decrease in the effects of daily stress both in the number of daily stressors that people reported, as well as their emotional reactivity to them. For example, 25-year-olds reported stressors on nearly 50% of days, while 70-year-olds reported stressors on only 30% of days.<\/p>\n

In addition to the decrease in the number of daily stressors reported, Almeida and the research team also found that as people age, they are less emotionally reactive to daily stressors when they do happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 25-year-old is much grumpier on the days when they experience a stressor, but as we age, we really figure out how to decrease those exposures,\u201d said Almeida, who noted that daily stress steadily decreases until mid-50s, when people are the least affected by stress exposures.<\/p>\n

While these findings show a decrease in reports of, and reactivity to, daily stressors into the mid-50s, Almeida notes that early indicators show that older age, into the late 60s and early 70s, may bring more challenges and a slight increase in instances of daily stress.<\/p>\n

With this finding, Almeida is looking forward to the next round of data collection for MIDUS, which will be the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. This new round of data collection will allow Almeida and his team to assess the impact of the pandemic on daily stress reactivity.<\/p>\n

The next round of data collection also will allow the team to further study how people grow and change during adulthood.<\/p>\n

\"This
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0For example, 25-year-olds reported stressors on nearly 50% of days, while 70-year-olds reported stressors on only 30% of days. The image is in the public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGrowing older from 35 to 65 is very different than growing older from 65 to 95,\u201d said Almeida. \u201cWe\u2019ve started to see that in the data already, but this next round of data collection and analysis will give us an even greater understanding of what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the next post-pandemic data collection in a couple of years, I\u2019ll be in my early 60s, and when I started this project, I was in my late 20s,\u201d he continued. \u201cMy own development has occurred during this study of midlife, and it has been enlightening to watch these findings play out in my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Almeida, we are all aging and growing older in various ways. How we age is depending on not only the challenges we face, but how we handle those challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my prior work looked at these small, daily stressors \u2014 being late to a meeting, having an argument with a partner, caring for a sick child \u2014 and found that our emotional responses to these events are predictive of later health and well-being, including chronic conditions, mental health and even mortality. With this new research, it\u2019s encouraging to see that as we age, we begin to deal with these stressors better. On average, the experience of daily stress won\u2019t get worse, but in fact get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funding:\u00a0<\/strong>This research was supported by the Penn State\u2019s Survey Research Center and the Center for Healthy Aging in the College of Health and Human Development.<\/p>\n

Additional researchers on the team include Jonathan Rush of the University of Victoria; Jacqueline Mogle of the Prevention Research Center at Penn State; Jennifer Piazza of California State University, Fullerton; Eric Cerino of Northern Arizona University; and Susan Charles of the University of California, Irvine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About this stress and aging research news<\/h2>\n

Author:\u00a0<\/strong>Francisco Tutella<\/a>
\nSource:\u00a0<\/strong>Penn State<\/a>
\nContact:\u00a0<\/strong>Francisco Tutella \u2013 Penn State
\nImage:\u00a0<\/strong>The image is in the public domain<\/p>\n

Original Research:\u00a0<\/strong>Closed access.
\n\u201cLongitudinal change in daily stress across 20 years of adulthood: Results from the national study of daily experiences<\/a>\u201d by David Almeida et al.\u00a0Developmental Psychology<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0The number of daily stressors and people\u2019s reactivity to daily stressors decreases as we age, a new study reports. 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