WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. teens are feeling high levels of stress that follow a similar pattern as adults, according to a new survey released Tuesday by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Most of the teens reported that their stress levels exceeded what they believed to be healthy, not only during the school year, but also during the summer, said the research, which surveyed 1, 950 adults and 1,018 teens in the United States in August 2013.
As a result of stress, more than one-third of teens reported fatigue or feeling tired and nearly one-quarter of teens reported skipping a meal, it said.
Meanwhile, U.S. teens were more likely than adults to report that their stress levels had a slight or no impact on their body or physical health or their mental health.
"It is alarming that the teen stress experience is so similar to that of adults," Norman Anderson, CEO and executive vice president of the APA, said in a statement.
"It is even more concerning that they seem to underestimate the potential impact that stress has on their physical and mental health," Anderson said.
According to the survey, only 16 percent of U.S. teens reported that their stress levels had declined in the past year but approximately twice as many said their stress levels had increased in the past year or believed their stress level will increase in the coming year.
Nearly half of teens reported they were not doing enough or were not sure if they were doing enough to manage their stress and more than one in 10 said they never set aside time to manage stress.
"Parents and other adults can play a critical role in helping teens get a handle on stress by modeling healthy stress management behaviors," said Anderson. "When spending time with teens, we can encourage them to exercise, eat well, get the sleep they need and seek support from health care professionals like psychologists to help them develop healthier coping mechanisms for stress sooner rather than later."
Similarly, stress continues to be a problem for many adults in the United States, according to the study.
About 42 percent of U.S. adults reported that their stress levels had increased and 36 percent said their stress levels had stayed the same over the past five years. Even though the majority of U.S. adults said that stress management is important to them, few set aside the time they need to manage stress.
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