Perceptions of Stress in Alberta and Saskatchewan: Part 1

Yang Yang | University of Saskatchewan | yang.yang@usask.ca 

Kirsten Samson | University of Saskatchewan 

Tanya Park | University of Alberta | tmpark@ualberta.ca 

Elaine Hyshka | University of Alberta | ehyshka@ualberta.ca

August 12, 2021

Stress and the perception of stress is an individual experience. In March 2021, entering the third wave of  the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations were available to some, but widespread vaccination had yet to  occur. Many Albertans waited for their place of work to reopen, while Saskatchewan businesses  followed strict regulations. Given this context, stress was a key consideration in the March 2021  Viewpoint survey. How do we cope with stress in our lives? The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a  collective experience of a new crisis, a stressful event for most of us. However, distribution of related  stressors is not uniform or equitable across the population and some people have felt stress during the  pandemic more acutely than others. How have people living in Alberta and Saskatchewan experienced  the pandemic? What feelings and thoughts have they experienced? What were their perception of  stress? Did their living environment influence their experience? Did their economic situation or  employment situation influence their perception of stress?  

Our March 2021 Viewpoint survey asked residents of both provinces about their thoughts and feelings during the previous month (i.e., February 2021). We used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (1), a global measure of self-reported stress, to assess how people were feeling (2). An index score of 1 indicates a low level of stress, 3 a moderate level of stress, and 5 a high level of stress. The results revealed that Albertans and Saskatchewanians were confident in their ability to handle stress from personal problems––such as changes in their situation of employment, household income, and pressure to meet monthly living expenses––although Saskatchewanians were more likely than Albertans to never feel upset by unexpected events. This brief is the first in a series of two research briefs discussing stress in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Level of Stress at a Glance

We asked Albertans (N=802) and Saskatchewanians (N=800) how often they were upset because of  something that happened unexpectedly (Figure 1). Most respondents in both provinces indicated that  unexpected events sometimes made them upset (44.5 percent of Albertans; 44.3 percent of  Saskatchewanians). Saskatchewanians (33.3 percent) were more likely than Albertans (28.8 percent) to  indicate that they were almost never or never upset by unexpected events. 

When asked how frequently respondents felt that they could not control the important things in their  lives (Figure 2), 31 percent of Albertans never or almost never felt unable to control important things in  their lives, slightly more Saskatchewanians felt this way (33.6 percent). Although Albertans and  Saskatchewanians felt similarly about their ability to control the important things in their life, Albertans  felt less in control. 

Albertans feel less able to control important things in their lives than 

Saskatchewanians.

Figure 1. Feeling upset due to unexpected events by province

Figure 2. Inability to control important things in respondents’ lives by province

Four-in-ten Albertans (41.4 percent) self-reported feeling nervous and stressed fairly or very often  (Figure 3). This was notably higher than Saskatchewanians––less than one-third (32.5 percent) reported feeling nervous or stressed fairly or very often. 

Albertans and Saskatchewanians were confident in their ability to handle personal problems (Figure  4). Only 2 percent of Albertans and 3.3 percent of Saskatchewanians reported they never felt confident  in their ability to handle personal problems. In contrast, 19.5 percent of Albertans and 22.1 percent of  Saskatchewanians reported they were able to handle personal problems very often.

Figure 3. Feeling nervous and stressed by province

Figure 4. Confidence in ability to handle personal problems by province.

Our survey asked participants if they felt that things were going their way. An overwhelming number of respondents thought that things went their way sometimes (48.1 percent of Albertans; 45 percent of Saskatchewanians). In contrast, a small proportion of respondents indicated that things never go their way (3 percent of Albertans; 4.3 percent of Saskatchewanians).

Among Albertans and Saskatchewanians, most respondents indicated that they were sometimes unable to cope with all the things they had to do (Figure 6). Albertans (36.3 percent) were slightly more likely to feel this way than Saskatchewanians (34.5 percent).

Figure 5. Feelings that life is progressing one’s way by province

Figure 6. Inability to cope by province

When asked about how often respondents had been able to control irritations in their lives, respondents often felt they could control irritations (Figure 7). Over one in ten respondents did not feel that they could control irritations (13.4 percent of Albertans; 12.7 percent of Saskatchewanians).

Both Albertans and Saskatchewanians felt they could stay on top of things (Figure 7). More than seven in ten Albertans (72.4 percent) and Saskatchewanians (71.4) could stay on top of things sometimes or fairly often.

Figure 7. Ability to control irritations by province.

Figure 8. Ability to stay on top of things by province

When asked how often they felt angry because of things outside of their control (Figure 9), Albertans most often reported that they felt this way sometimes (40.1 percent). Saskatchewanians also reported sometimes feeling angry because of things outside of their control (42.6 percent).

Albertans and Saskatchewanians did not feel that difficulties were piling up so high that they could not be overcome (Figure 10). A full 43.4 percent of Albertans and 50.2 percent of Saskatchewanians never or almost never felt this way.

Figure 9. Anger due to uncontrolled events by province

Figure 10. Difficulties compiling resulting in an inability to overcome them by province

Heterogeneity in Level of Stress

We calculated the mean level of stress for different sociodemographic characteristics to compare sociodemographic groups (3). 

Figure 11 compares levels of stress among female, male, and respondents of other genders in Alberta  and Saskatchewan. In both provinces, people who did not self-identify as female or male had higher  average levels of stress than the binary gender categories. Respondents who did not select female or  male scored 3.5 (out of 5) in Alberta and 3.6 in Saskatchewan.

Respondents who selected “other” as their gender had a higher mean level of

stress than either of the binary gender categories.

Level of stress also changed based on respondent age: as age increased, stress decreased (4). The 65+ age cohort experienced the lowest level of stress in both Alberta (2.4) and Saskatchewan (2.3). In contrast, the 18-24 age cohort experienced the highest levels of stress––Albertans in this age group had a score of 3.2 and Saskatchewanians 3.1. At a statistically significant difference of 0.8 between the least and most stressed age cohorts, there is a considerable difference between their levels of stress.

Figure 11. Level of stress by gender

Figure 12. Level of stress by age

Variations in stress were also visible when considering race (Figure 13). White Albertans (2.8) and  Saskatchewanians (2.7) are the least stressed subgroups. Indigenous respondents reported the highest  levels of stress; Indigenous persons had an average stress level of 3.2 in Alberta and 3.1 in  Saskatchewan (5).

When comparing levels of education, a pattern emerged. As one’s level of education increased, one’s level of stress decreased (6). Albertans (2.91) and Saskatchewanians (2.84) with high school education had the highest level of stress. At all education levels, Albertans had higher stress levels than Saskatchewanians.

Figure 13. Level of stress by race

Figure 14. Level of stress by education

Figure 15 demonstrates how levels of stress fluctuated by income (7). We found that as respondent  household income increased, stress level decreased. In both Alberta (3.02) and Saskatchewan (2.91),  those with household incomes of $59,999 or less were the most stressed. Those with household  incomes above $120,000 were the least stressed (Alberta = 2.71; Saskatchewan = 2.52). 

When it comes to employment type, unsurprisingly, retirees experienced markedly less stress than any other employment type, and those unemployed perceived a much higher level of stress (Figure 16) (8).

Figure 15. Level of stress by income

Figure 16. Level of stress by employment

Findings detailing respondent level of stress by area differed from conventional wisdom. The Viewpoint survey asked respondents to self-identify whether they live in an urban, suburban, or rural area. When comparing area to the stress index, we find that level of stress is relatively consistent across areas in both provinces. Although stress is an individual experience, it appears that reported stress levels were similar in Alberta and Saskatchewan in March 2021.

Figure 17. Level of stress by area

Concluding Remarks

The Viewpoint survey illustrates that stress was present among our respondents at varying levels. For  example, retired Albertans and Saskatchewanians have a stress index score of 2.38 and 2.35, while full time employees' stress indexes in Saskatchewan and Alberta are higher at 2.79 and 2.89 respectively.  Overall, Albertans perceived higher levels of stress than Saskatchewanians. Part 2 of the Perceptions of  Stress in Alberta and Saskatchewan brief explores potential contributions to perceived stress and can be found here.

Feelings and thoughts about stress can often feel like a lonely experience. If you or anyone you know is  feeling stressed and would like to talk to someone about this, please contact the health line in your  province. 

• Saskatchewan Health Line 811 

• Alberta Health Link 811 

The Saskatchewan and Alberta Health Services websites also provide helpful advice for when you are  feeling stressed. 

• Alberta Health Services https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/ 

• Saskatchewan Health Authority https://www.saskhealthauthority.ca/ 

For direct links to mental health services, follow the links below: 

• Alberta: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/amh/amh.aspx 

• Saskatchewan: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/health/accessing-health-care services/mental-health-and-addictions-support-services/mental-health-support/mental health-services

Methodology of the Viewpoint Survey

The Viewpoint Alberta Survey was conducted between March 1 and 8, 2021 (Alberta data) and March 1 and 10 (Saskatchewan data). The survey was deployed online by the Leger. A copy of the survey questions can be found here: http://bit.ly/30VcYEY. Leger co-ordinates the survey with an online panel system that targets registered panelists that meet the demographic criteria for the survey. Survey data is based on 802 responses with a 17-minute average completion time. The Viewpoint Alberta Survey was led by co-principal investigators Loleen Berdahl and Jared Wesley. It was funded in part by a Kule Research Cluster Grant and an Alberta-Saskatchewan Research Collaboration Grant from the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) at the University of Alberta and the College of Arts and Science at the University of Saskatchewan.

Endnotes

1. PSS used in this report is a measurement of perceived stress or self-reported stress perceptions, and  thus is not clinically significant for diagnosis. 

2. Cohen, Sheldon, Tom Kamarck, and Robin Mermelstein, “A Global Measure of Perceived Stress,” Journal  of Health and Social Behavior, 24, (1983): 385-396.

3. Stress index is constructed by taking the average responses to ten ‘Level of Stress’ questions, with questions 4, 5,  7, and 8 reverse-coded.  

4. Pairwise comparisons reveal that some values are not statistically significant. These findings can be better understood as general trends; they may be empirically significant, but they are not statistically significant. Statistically insignificant comparisons include: Albertans age 18-24 vs. 25-34, 18-24 vs. 35-44, 18-24 vs. 45-54, 25-34 vs. 35-44, 25-34 vs. 45-54, and 35-44 vs. 45-54; Saskatchewanians age 18-24 vs. 25-34, 25-34 vs. 35- 44, 25-34 vs. 45-54, 35-44 vs. 45-54, 55-64 vs. 65+. All other values are statistically significant.

5. Pairwise comparisons reveal that all Albertan values are not statistically significant, and the only significant Saskatchewan value is white vs. Indigenous at a 5 percent confidence level. Statistically insignificant findings can be understood as general trends and are not necessarily representative of the general population.

6. Pairwise comparisons reveal that all Albertan values are not statistically significant, and the only significant Saskatchewan value is graduate degree at a 5 percent confidence level.

7. Pairwise comparisons reveal that $60,000-119,999 vs. $120,000 and above are not statistically significant for both provinces. Other values are statistically significant at a 5 percent confidence interval.

8. Pairwise comparisons reveal that the only statistically significant comparisons in Alberta are unemployed vs. full time, unemployed vs. part-time, and retired vs. all others. In Saskatchewan, statistically significant comparisons include unemployed vs. full-time and retired vs. all others. These values are statistically significant at 5 percent.