Stressors and bodily pain

Latest release

Key findings on experience of stressors and bodily pain in Australia

Reference period

2020-21

Released

17/06/2022

Next release Unknown

First release

Key statistics

43.7% of adults experienced one or more stressors such as illness or bereavement
Women were more likely to experience one or more stressors compared to men (45.0% compared to 42.2%)
Seven in ten (71.1%) adults experienced bodily pain in the four weeks prior to the survey

The National Health Survey 2020-21 was collected online during the COVID-19 pandemic and is a break in time series. Data should be used for point-in-time analysis only and can’t be compared to previous years. See Methodology for more information.

Experienced stressors in the past 12 months

Definitions

Stressors are events, circumstances, or conditions (such as illness, unemployment, and bereavement) that occur in a person’s life that may negatively impact the individual’s health or wellbeing, or someone close to them. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, questions on experience of stressors were included in the National Health Survey 2020-21. These questions were asked of people aged 18 years and over. Experience of stressors includes people who directly experienced, or had someone close to them experience, selected stressors.

In 2020-21, 43.7% of people aged 18 years and over experienced one or more stressors, while one in five (20.0%) experienced two or more stressors:

Women were more likely to experience one or more stressors compared to men (45.0% compared to 42.2%)
Similarly, women were more likely to experience two or more stressors compared to men (22.0% compared to 18.0%)
Younger people were more likely to experience stressors with 48.3% of people aged 18-24 experiencing one or more stressors compared to 34.8% of people aged 65 years and over.

Proportion of people who experienced stressors in the last 12 months by age, 2020-21
%	Did not experience stressors (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (high)	Experienced 1 or more stressors (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (high)	Experienced 2 or more stressors (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (high)
18–24	51	45.5	56.5	48.3	42.8	53.8	25.8	21.3	30.3
25–34	53.8	49.9	57.7	45.5	41.6	49.4	22.8	20.1	25.5
35–44	58.4	55.0	61.8	41.3	37.9	44.7	18.8	16.3	21.3
45–54	49.9	46.3	53.5	49.9	46.3	53.5	25.1	22.5	27.7
55–64	54.2	50.8	57.6	45.9	42.5	49.3	20.3	17.7	22.9
65–74	64.6	61.5	67.7	35.5	32.4	38.6	13	10.7	15.3
75 years and over	66.2	61.8	70.6	33.1	28.7	37.5	8.9	6.0	11.8

Proportion of people who experienced stressors in the last 12 months by age, 2020-21

["%","Did not experience stressors","95% confidence interval","Experienced 1 or more stressors","95% confidence interval","Experienced 2 or more stressors","95% confidence interval"]

[["18\u201324","25\u201334","35\u201344","45\u201354","55\u201364","65\u201374","75 years and over"],[[51],[53.799999999999997],[58.399999999999999],[49.899999999999999],[54.200000000000003],[64.599999999999994],[66.200000000000003]],[[45.5,56.5],[49.899999999999999,57.700000000000003],[55,61.799999999999997],[46.299999999999997,53.5],[50.799999999999997,57.600000000000001],[61.5,67.700000000000003],[61.799999999999997,70.599999999999994]],[[48.299999999999997],[45.5],[41.299999999999997],[49.899999999999999],[45.899999999999999],[35.5],[33.100000000000001]],[[42.799999999999997,53.799999999999997],[41.600000000000001,49.399999999999999],[37.899999999999999,44.700000000000003],[46.299999999999997,53.5],[42.5,49.299999999999997],[32.399999999999999,38.600000000000001],[28.699999999999999,37.5]],[[25.800000000000001],[22.800000000000001],[18.800000000000001],[25.100000000000001],[20.300000000000001],[13],[8.9000000000000004]],[[21.300000000000001,30.300000000000001],[20.100000000000001,25.5],[16.300000000000001,21.300000000000001],[22.5,27.699999999999999],[17.699999999999999,22.899999999999999],[10.699999999999999,15.300000000000001],[6,11.800000000000001]]]

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Types of stressors experienced

In 2020-21, the most common stressors experienced in the past 12 months were:

Mental ill health (12.8%)
Death of a family member or close friend (12.4%)
Serious illness (11.3%)
Unable to get a job (9.9%)
Loss of job (9.8%).

In general, young people were more likely to report mental ill health, being unable to get a job, and loss of job as a stressor experienced in the last 12 months. In comparison, older people were more likely to report serious illness as a stressor. Experiencing the death of a family member or close friend as a stressor fluctuated over the age groups.

Almost one in five people (19.2%) aged 18-24 reported mental ill health as a stressor compared to 6.1% of people aged 65 years and over
Almost one in six people (15.7%) aged 18-24 reported not being able to get a job as a stressor compared to 3.4% of people aged 65 years and over
About one in eight people (13.0%) aged 18-24 reported loss of job as a stressor compared to 3.8% of people aged 65 years and over
One in seven people (14.5%) aged 65 years and over reported serious illness as a stressor compared to 8.3% of people aged 18-24 years.

Characteristics of people who experienced stressors

In 2020-21:

Seven in ten people (69.1%) who experienced high or very high psychological distress reported experiencing one or more stressors
64.7% of people who rated their health as fair or poor experienced one or more stressors
Four in ten people (39.1%) who experienced severe or very severe bodily pain in the last four weeks reported experiencing two or more stressors.

Experienced bodily pain in the last four weeks

In 2020-21, seven in ten (71.1%) people aged 18 years and over experienced bodily pain in the last four weeks:

Almost half (46.7%) experienced very mild or mild bodily pain
18.1% experienced moderate bodily pain
6.4% experienced severe or very severe bodily pain
Of those who experienced bodily pain, 62.6% reported interference with their work in the last four weeks.

People aged 75 years and over were more likely to experience bodily pain in the last four weeks compared to people aged 18-24 years:

Overall, 84.0% experienced bodily pain compared to 55.8%
10.6% experienced severe or very severe pain compared to 2.4%
29.0% experienced moderate pain compared to 10.1%
Both age groups experienced similar rates of very mild or mild pain (43.9% and 43.1%).

Women were more likely than men to experience bodily pain and have bodily pain interfere with work in the last four weeks:

73.9% of women aged 18 years and over experienced bodily pain compared to 68.2% of men
63.2% of women aged 18-24 years experienced bodily pain compared to 47.8% of men
66.1% of women aged 18 years and over experienced interference with work compared to 58.4% of men.

Proportion of people who experienced bodily pain in the last four weeks by age and sex, 2020-21
%	Men (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (high)	Women (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (%) (high)	Persons (%)	95% confidence interval (%) (low)	95% confidence interval (%) (high)
18–24	47.8	38.4	57.2	63.2	55.1	71.3	55.8	50.1	61.5
25–34	61	56.1	65.9	70.2	65.4	75.0	65.5	62.4	68.6
35–44	69.3	65.4	73.2	67.3	63.6	71.0	68.4	65.6	71.2
45–54	66.6	62.1	71.1	75.6	71.8	79.4	71	67.9	74.1
55–64	77.5	73.4	81.6	80.3	76.7	83.9	79.4	76.4	82.4
65–74	77.6	73.3	81.9	78.6	74.4	82.8	77.8	74.9	80.7
75 years and over	83.9	79.9	87.9	85.3	81.5	89.1	84	81.1	86.9

Proportion of people who experienced bodily pain in the last four weeks by age and sex, 2020-21

["%","Men","95% confidence interval","Women","95% confidence interval (%)","Persons","95% confidence interval"]

[["18\u201324","25\u201334","35\u201344","45\u201354","55\u201364","65\u201374","75 years \nand over"],[[47.799999999999997],[61],[69.299999999999997],[66.599999999999994],[77.5],[77.599999999999994],[83.900000000000006]],[[38.399999999999999,57.200000000000003],[56.100000000000001,65.900000000000006],[65.400000000000006,73.200000000000003],[62.100000000000001,71.099999999999994],[73.400000000000006,81.599999999999994],[73.299999999999997,81.900000000000006],[79.900000000000006,87.900000000000006]],[[63.200000000000003],[70.200000000000003],[67.299999999999997],[75.599999999999994],[80.299999999999997],[78.599999999999994],[85.299999999999997]],[[55.100000000000001,71.299999999999997],[65.400000000000006,75],[63.600000000000001,71],[71.799999999999997,79.400000000000006],[76.700000000000003,83.900000000000006],[74.400000000000006,82.799999999999997],[81.5,89.099999999999994]],[[55.799999999999997],[65.5],[68.400000000000006],[71],[79.400000000000006],[77.799999999999997],[84]],[[50.100000000000001,61.5],[62.399999999999999,68.599999999999994],[65.599999999999994,71.200000000000003],[67.900000000000006,74.099999999999994],[76.400000000000006,82.400000000000006],[74.900000000000006,80.700000000000003],[81.099999999999994,86.900000000000006]]]

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