Parents in Time Stress Children get sick of it

AOK Family Study: Parents multiply in time stress

07/03/2014

One of the results of the AOK Family Study 2014 is that parents feel increasingly stressed out and have problems organizing their family life. The family study was conducted for the third time. Following on from the previous studies from the years 2007 and 2010, the SINUS Institute surveyed about 1,500 families on behalf of the AOK about their everyday family life, their parents' health and their children's health.

According to a statement of the AOK are „the results of the study impressive and yet very obvious.“ In the first place need „Children have a functioning everyday life in order to grow up healthy.“ In addition, her health is influenced by the well-being and state of health of her parents. However, in terms of parents, the study finds that they are increasingly in stress and have problems coping with their everyday family life. A quarter of respondents said, by organizing the everyday family life „strongly demanded or even overwhelmed“, reports the AOK. Furthermore, I have „almost half of parents have severe or very stressful time“ complained. According to the health insurance company „Time stress is apparently the central burden dimension of parents“ and „It would therefore be rewarding to think about how time-outs can be organized in everyday family life.“

Parents today in many areas less burdened than in 2010
Compared to the Family Study 2010, the current survey shows that „Parents see themselves today in most areas (i.e., financially, physically, psychologically and in partnership) less burdened overall“, reports the AOK. But in the opposite direction, the time pressure in everyday life since 2010 has increased. Today, 46 percent of parents feel that they are heavily or very heavily burdened, whereas their share in 2010 was 41 percent. „Not surprisingly“ be there, „that single parents feel much more burdened with time and money than parents in couples.“ Accordingly, single parents would complain more often about strong mental stress. Other causes of time stress could be „the educational efforts of many (middle-class) parents“, because more and more parents would „try to give their children a better competitive position through extracurricular activities (tuition, sports, art, music, etc.)“, so the message of the AOK. In addition, according to the health insurance, today often both parents work, which additionally increases the time stress. High-educated parents tend to be more affected by the stress of the time than parents with low or intermediate education. The shortage of time was particularly extreme among parents with children of primary school age.

One fifth of children with health problems
In terms of children's health, the current family study finds that every fifth child has health problems. According to the AOK, the spectrum of the children's complaints reached from sleeping problems and nervousness to physical complaints such as headaches, abdominal pain or back pain. Here, a correlation between the temporal stress of the parents and the health of the children can be observed. Furthermore, the study showed that „Children with health problems and low health quality of life are also more mentally and socially burdened.“ The study authors paid special attention to the weight problems of adolescents, as these can have a long-term adverse effect on the health of those affected. Still be „20 percent of the target children are overweight and another 5 percent are obese“, reports the AOK. Children who regularly move together with their parents would have fewer problems here and would also benefit from their health. Based on the comprehensive results of the AOK Family Study 2014, the experts have four essentials „Recommendations for healthy family life“ which can be found on the AOK website. (Fp)