Money tops stress factor in US: Survey

The United States could be the wealthiest nation in the world and yet it is money that stresses out its adult population the most, reveals a new survey.

Nearly three quarters (72 percent) of adults reported feeling stressed about money at least some of the time in the survey that involved more than 3,000 adults from across the US.

The American Psychological Association (APA) commissioned the survey in August 2014.

Nearly one quarter said they experienced extreme stress about money.

More than one-quarter of adults (26 percent) reported feeling stressed about money most or all the time, the findings showed.

High levels of stress can adversely affect the health of people.

While 32 percent said their finances or lack of money prevented them from living a healthy lifestyle, 20 percent said they have either considered skipping (9 percent) or skipped (12 percent) going to the doctor in the past year when they needed health care because of financial concerns.

Besides money, other top rated sources of stress were at least loosely tied to finances.

A majority (60 percent) said work was a very or somewhat significant source of stress, while 49 percent said the same about the economy, 47 percent were stressed about family responsibilities and 46 percent were stressed about health concerns, Live Science reported.

However, the survey showed that overall, stress levels dipped last year to 4.9 out of 10 on a stress-measuring scale, down from 6.2 in 2007.