Australians are more stressed about losing their job than they are about getting divorced, according to results of a survey conducted by Newspoll on behalf of Suncorp Life.
‘Losing a job’ ranked third on a list of seven events Australians found most stressful in a survey weighted to represent the current population of Australia.
The results indicated that Gen X and Y are relatively more stressed about losing their job than baby boomers and that men ranked stress about losing their job higher than women did.
The seven most stressful events nominated were:
- Having you home and belongings destroyed by natural disasters;
- Serious illness or injury;
- Losing a job;
- Getting divorced;
- Having a child;
- Moving house; and
- Getting married.
The survey results also revealed that four times more men than women believe getting married is the most stressful life event they face with almost 350,000 Australian men nominating nuptials as stressful over 70,000 women.
“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 David Carter, executive general manager of Suncorp Life.
Projections from the survey suggest there are approximately 2.4 million Australian women who would rate having their home destroyed by a natural disaster as the most stress-inducing event, compared to 1.8 million men.
“From these results it can be reasonably suggested that, due to the recent natural disasters, Queensland women are currently among the most stressed in the country,” said Carter.
The survey was conducted for Suncorp Life, which offers income protection and home and contents insurance products designed to provide peace of mind from unforeseen, stressful events.
What event do you find most stressful?
