The results are based on the large population survey “How are you?”, Where the Central Jutland Region is considered to provide a comprehensive picture of a national trend.
Here, the curve of the population’s state of stress over decades resembles a hockey stick. It is at the top of the very young and then falls steadily downwards over the years to go all the way to the bottom of the 65-year-olds.
And then it rises again in the mid or late 70s.
– It is a marked pattern in several studies, says senior researcher Finn Breinholt Larsen from Defactum.
He points out that young people have great challenges with education, work and finding a partner and starting a family. Since then, the work takes up a lot of space for a number of years.
– In the years 65 to 74, on the other hand, there has often been more control over the finances and family, and you have achieved what you were supposed to in the labor market. Challenges are getting smaller, he says.
According to Finn Breinholt Larsen, the lack of stress in the 65- to 74-year-olds is based on several things in addition to work, family and job.
– Most older people today are better off in terms of health than before. At the same time, the Danish pension system is at the top internationally, so many older people are broadly reasonably well off financially as pensioners, he says.
At the same time, he points out that most people along the way become better at dealing with stress and slipping off the worst hassle of life.
He expects us to see many more part-time jobs in their final years in the job market.
– Many people like to go to work. But they want to turn down the pressure a bit. It benefits both the employee, who can last longer, and the workplace, which can then continue to draw on the employee’s experience for a longer period of time, he says.