Stress levels increased since 1983, new analysis shows

You may have felt it, but now a scientific analysis of stress over time offers some proof that there's more stress in people's lives today than 25 years ago.

Stress increased 18% for women and 24% for men from 1983 to 2009, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who analyzed data from more than 6,300 people. It's considered the first-ever historical comparison of stress levels across the USA.

"The data suggest there's been an increase in stress over that time," says psychologist and lead author Sheldon Cohen, director of Carnegie Mellon's Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity and Disease. The analysis is published online in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

In research done in 1983, 2006 and 2009, those with higher stress were women, people with lower incomes and those with less education. Findings also show that as people age, stress decreases.