“[These findings are] important because we know that experiencing chronic stress over time can have adverse effects and that people generally report increasing levels of stress as they move from young adulthood to midlife—their 40s and 50s,” said corresponding author Shevaun Neupert, Ph.D., professor of psychology at North Carolina State University, in a statement to Science Daily. “If these young people are already experiencing historically high levels of stress for their age, and that stress is affecting how old they feel, it will be important for us to pay close attention to the markers we use to assess stress-related physical and mental health for this generation.”
