Starting a business can be very hard but it is not the most stressful event for Australians. According to a new survey there are more stressful things in life… like getting married.
A Newspoll survey, which was commissioned by Suncorp Life, has analysed what events Australians deem as the most stressful in their life. Not surprisingly, losing the home to a natural disaster ranks in the first place of the ‘stress barometer’ closely followed by serious illness or injury. In third place comes the stress of losing a job and, in fourth, getting divorced.
According to David Carter, Executive General Manager of Suncorp Life, “1.5 million Australians say that have been directly affected by a natural disaster event in the last three months. Unsurprisingly, 800,000 Queenslanders made up the lion’s share of this statistic following the tragic cyclone and flood events that ravaged the state earlier this year.”
The survey also revealed gender differences in the responses.
Among the biggest gaps is the fact that more women (around 2.4 million) find losing their homes to a natural disaster more stressful than men (1.8 million). On the other hand, men seem to find getting married much more stressful than women.
According to the survey, around 350,000 men said they find marriage to be the most stressful event in their life compared to 70,000 of women responses.
“While men are four times more likely than women to be most stressed about marriage, women are significantly more stressed than men about having their home and belongings destroyed by a natural disaster,” said Mr Carter.
Getting married is also a bigger problem among the younger generations, as it is losing their jobs. For older generations the most stressful events are losing their homes for natural disasters and serious illness or injury.
“Stressful events and circumstances are a part of life. What the survey findings have shown is that different groups of people react differently to stress inducing circumstances,” stated Mr Carter.
Photo by Martin Howard
