Aged between 25 and 34? You are the 'worry generation'

Anxiety levelsThose aged between 25 and 34 have been dubbed the "worry generation" after a survey suggests they worried at least one-third more than other age groups.

The BA Festival of Science yesterday heard about a national UK study of 1,500 people aged from 18 to 70 which attempted to measure their level of anxiety.

"This is the first survey of its kind," stated Dr Andreas Cebulla of the UK National Centre for Social Research. It pointed to the lack of baseline data on risk perception, he said yesterday. "It should first have been done in the 1950s."

People today generally feel greater anxiety about risk, "more than the previous generation would have", Dr Cebulla said.

The survey revealed significant age differences in the level of risk experienced and the things that most worried people. The 25 to 34 year olds were the clear winners when it came to anxiety. "We identified the worry generation," he said.

The top five worries for the combined survey group were illness, crime, accidents, job loss and income decline. The top risk issue for the worry generation was career and finance, but this group also tended to worry about things that didn't trouble other groups, including legal issues and family break-up. They worry at least one-third more "about what might happen to them", Dr Cebulla said. "It is a unique group because it scores highest in every risk group you mention."

He speculated on why this group would believe itself to be more at risk than others, suggesting one factor was experience. The 18 to 24 group worked from a lower base of experience, and so risks might be less obvious to them. Their greatest concern was accidents but, generally, this group had much less concern.

The 35 to 44 group, who worry most about job loss and accidents, tempered their risk perception with more experience and so had lower levels of concern, the survey found. This was increasingly true as age advanced past 65. Of the other categories, the 45 to 54 group worried most about crime; for the 55 to 64s and the over 65s, it was crime and accidents.

Dr Cebulla suggested the 25 to 34 group might worry more because their lives are more in transition, from single to married, from no children to new dependants.

With their greater financial responsibility comes increased risk perception associated with career and job, he said.