Age and gender and stress

Women are more likely to suffer from work-related stress than men. The HSE reports that: “In 2011-12 there was an estimated incidence of 86,000 male and 135,000 female cases of work-related stress based on the Labour Force Survey. This compares to an estimated prevalence of 175,000 cases of work-related stress amongst males and 253,000 cases of work-related stress amongst females.” (Incidence refers to the number of new cases; while prevalence refers to the total number of cases.)

For men and women combined, the highest incidence rates were reported among the 45-54 age group, with this age group accounting for 33% of all male cases and 34% of all female cases.

The age group with the highest incidence rate for women is 35–44 and this is statistically significantly higher than the average rate for all workers.

www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress/stress.pdf