Stress due to inflation common among working-age population —Report

Findings of a research project supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, have revealed that stress due to inflation is common among working-age population, especially among gender and individuals that may experience other stressors such as low income, employment income loss, adding that despite a declining national inflation rate in some countries, stress due to inflation became significantly more prevalent between September 2022 and June 2023, suggesting that price increases may have cumulative effects on stress over time.

The vision of the research was based on the belief that the causes and the consequences of stress due to inflation warrant further research and policy attention as there is a need to focus on health policies in addition to anti-inflationary monetary and fiscal policies due to inflation’s potential effects on mental and physical health through stress.

The project titled; ‘Stress due to inflation: Changes over time, correlates, and coping strategies among working-age adults, examined the prevalence of stress due to inflation during a period when it declined from 8.2 percent in September 2022 to 3 percent in June 2023  in the United States and its association with demographic and social determinants of health (SDOH).

It found that the odds of stress due to inflation were higher for individuals with the following characteristics: female having income below 400 percent of the federal poverty line, having lost employment income, not being able to afford food or had long or acute COVID-19 challenges and came to the conclusion that more than three quarters of working-age adults experienced stress due to inflation. Despite a declining national inflation rate in recent months, stress due to inflation has significantly increased among working-age adults.

Its findings on the cause of stress gave factors that border on issues like inflation reducing the purchasing power of money and increasing everyone’s cost of living.

“It can constrain the spending patterns of some individuals and households, and may make meeting basic needs and well-being difficult. Inflation may be viewed as a threat to maintaining a standard of living or to meeting basic needs like food and housing. Research has supported the existence of a response of “psychological stress” to an external threat; when faced with an external threat, the survival stress response (fight, flight, or freeze) is initiated, which may partly explain the relationship between inflation and stress due to inflation,” the report said.

It added that “for some individuals and families, inflation may make meeting basic needs difficult, as inflation interrelates with other stressors such as poverty, job loss, and/or discrimination. These factors often lead to high levels of stress and reductions in well-being In addition, despite declining inflation; stress due to inflation might persist and may become chronic as price levels continue to be historically high and to increase.

“As a stressor, inflation has the potential to impact both physical and mental health. For instance, stress is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and infectious disease

“More than 90 percent of working-age adults make changes to cope with price increases. The most common coping behaviors adopted by more than half of working-age adults include shopping with low-price coupons, eating out less and delaying major purchases. Ten other coping behaviors were adopted by between a fifth and a half of the sample: switching from brand to generics, canceling/reducing subscriptions, canceling/reducing events, saving less, eating less meat and fresh produce, driving less/changing mode of transportation, decreasing the use of utilities, delaying medical treatment and working additional jobs.

“Individuals continued to make efforts to increase their incomes; seeking additional jobs, which may result in increased transportation costs and reduce their expenses. One important characteristic of individuals who reported stress due to inflation was the belief that prices will continue to increase in the next months. An overwhelming majority of working-age adults who were very stressed about price increases expected the prices to further increase in the next six months. Taken together, these findings suggest that perception indicators on stress due to inflation may not move together with the national inflation rate.

“The odds of reporting stress due to inflation were higher among individuals with the inability to afford food; those who experience financial hardships such as the loss of employment income are more likely to be stressed due to inflation. The widespread and increasing stress due to inflation may have implications for mental health outcomes, practices, policies, and programs. Stress due to inflation may lead to poor mental health through several mechanisms,” it said.

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