Page 33 - IJPS-11-4

International Journal of
Population Studies Stress in early adulthood

adolescence on the experience of stress, both general 2017 (age 28), with response rates of 65%, 58%, and 57%,
perceived stress and work stress, during young adulthood. respectively. For the present study, the study population
It is also essential to understand how psychosocial work comprises individuals who indicated having a job at age 28
environment factors and temporary employment affect the in the 2017 questionnaire and provided information about
experience of stress in the early career stages. Furthermore, stress (perceived stress from ages 15 – 28 or work stress at
there is a need to investigate whether the perceived stress age 28) on at least one questionnaire (n = 1275).
diminishes as young individuals gain more experience in
the labor market. 2.2. Measures
In this study, stress is measured as perceived or To measure stress in young adults at the age of 28, two
experienced stress, which is different from clinical stress measures were employed:
and is viewed from a psychological perspective. Lazarus’ (i) The PSS-10, known as the Perceived Stress Scale
cognitive stress model (Cohen et al., 1997) is the basis 10-item version, is a widely used psychological
for the definition of the concept. Lazarus’ theory suggests tool developed to gauge the level of global stress
that the experience of stress is not fixed or unchanging individuals perceive in their lives. It was designed to
but rather emerges as an ongoing interaction between the measure the degree to which individuals find their
individual and their surroundings (Lazarus & Folkman, lives unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded
1984). (Cohen et al., 1983). In clinical research, the Danish
version of the PSS-10 has been proven to be feasible
1.5. Aim and possesses strong psychometric properties such
This theoretical understanding and interest have led to the as agreement, reliability, validity, responsiveness,
following three study aims: and interpretability, particularly among patients who
experience work-related stress complaints (Eskildsen
(i) To investigate the strength of the association between et al., 2015). To calculate stress scores at the age of
perceived stress during adolescence and stress 28, the 2017 questionnaire included 10 items with
experienced in young adult work life. response categories ranging from “never” to “very
(ii) To investigate the extent to which the association often” on a scale of 0 to 4. These responses were then
between perceived stress in adolescence and stress summed to create a score ranging from 0 to 40. To
in young adult work life is explained by a poor distinguish between high and low-stress levels, the
psychosocial work environment and temporary scores were dichotomized at the 75 percentile (≥18).
th
employment. (ii) Work stress at age 28 was assessed using a single-
(iii) To investigate whether the association between item question: “is your normal daily work
perceived stress in adolescence and stress in young stressful in an unpleasant way?” This measure has
adult work life is dependent on work experience. been used in previous studies to measure work-related

2. Methods stress in a Danish work context (Haahr, 2006). It
contains six response categories, from 1 (always) to 6
2.1. Participants (rarely/never), that were dichotomized into low work
stress (rarely/never; sometimes) and high work stress
The individuals included in this study were drawn from (always; almost always; usually; frequently).
the West Jutland Cohort, which consisted of all individuals
(n = 3681) born in 1989 and residing in Ringkjoebing The abbreviated version of the Perceived Stress
County, Denmark, in early April 2004. The primary Scale, known as PSS-4, was used to assess stress levels in
objective of the West Jutland Cohort study was to examine adolescents (Cohen et al., 1983). Information was collected
and explore various dimensions of inequalities and social using questionnaires at ages 15, 18, and 21. The PSS-4 was
disparities affecting physical and mental health as well as a subset of the PSS-10 used at age 28, and the response
overall well-being across the lifespan (Glasscock et al., categories were identical to those of the PSS-10 scale. The
2013; Winding & Andersen, 2015). At the age of 15, in items were likewise summarized on a scale ranging from 0
th
2004, a baseline questionnaire was administered during to 16 points and dichotomized at the 75 percentile into a
school hours, with participants who were absent from high vs. low-stress score at ages 15 and 18 (≥7) and 21 (≥8).
school on the collection day receiving the questionnaire An assessment of accumulated stress throughout
by mail. Out of the 3681 potential participants invited, adolescence was created, consisting of three categories:
3054 (83%) chose to participate. Subsequent follow-up (i) individuals who reported low-stress scores in all
surveys were conducted in 2007 (age 18), 2010 (age 21), and three rounds of questionnaires; (ii) individuals who

Volume 11 Issue 4 (2025) 27 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0864