According to the National Consumers League, “work is the top source of stress for adults who have problems and stress in their lives (39%), followed by family (30%). Other sources include health (10%), concern about the economy (9%) and concern about international conflict and terrorism (4%).”

However, stress is hardly unique to the United States. A British survey in 2002 estimated that “over half a million individuals in Britain believed in 2001/2 that they were experiencing work-related stress at a level that was making them ill.” As a result of “work-related stress, depression or anxiety,” there are “an estimated thirteen and a half million reported lost working days per year in Britain.”

The picture is no less bleak in mainland Europe. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, “work-related stress has been shown to affect millions of European workers across all types of employment sectors.” One survey revealed that there are “about 41 million [European Union] workers affected by work-related stress each year.”

What about Asia? A report issued by a conference held in Tokyo concluded: “Job stress is a common concern among many countries in the world, both developing and industrialized countries.” The report observed that “several countries in East Asia, including China, Korea and Taiwan, have rapidly industrialized and economically grown. These countries now have a lot of concerns on job stress and its adverse effects on worker health.”

A report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work stated that workers are often stressed on their jobs because, among other things, there is poor communication between management and employees, management gives workers little say in decisions that affect them, there are conflicts with fellow workers, or there is job insecurity and/or inadequate pay. Whatever the reasons, coping with the strains of the workplace may leave working parents with little energy to deal with the demands of their families. And those demands can be enormous.