The key to avoiding Yuletide stress? Having children and being a Christian... probably
THE run-up to Christmas leaves us stressed and despondent unless you are a Christian, according to the latest research.
Being Christian and having children in the house reduces Christmas stress
The study also revealed that a good education and having children at home helped lessen stress at yuletide.
The findings come from a study across Europe, including the UK.
Professor Michael Mutz of Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen said that results highlighted the stresses involved in the pre-Christmas period such as buying presents in time and fulfilling social obligations.
This was exacerbated by a growing material consumer culture, which stretches us financially, causing more stress.
People with Christian affiliation and a strong sense of religiousness celebrate Christmas differently than the majority of non-Christians
The research on Christmas and subjective well-being (SWB) analysed large-scale data from the European Social Survey (ESS) for 11 historically Christian European countries: Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The study, published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life compared the data for respondents questioned in the pre-Christmas and post-Christmas periods to those questioned at other times of the year, excluding July and August.
The findings come from research across Europe
In general, respondents interviewed around Christmas showed significantly less satisfaction with their lives and experienced more negative emotions than those surveyed at other times of the year.
However, this was not the case among very religious Christians, who said they felt more positive and content with life during the run-up to Christmas than others.
Prof Mutz, said the results of the study do not show that Christians are completely immune to the effects the Christmas period has on people's emotions, they just seem to be less affected than non-religious people.
Those surveyed gave more negative responses during the christmas period than the rest of the year
He said this held true for all Christians, regardless of how religious they rate themselves.
He said: "People with Christian affiliation and a strong sense of religiousness celebrate Christmas differently than the majority of non-Christians.
"It can be assumed that these individuals are less prone to becoming absorbed by the consumerism that precedes the holidays.
"Christian religious affiliation is a protective factor against the general decline of subjective well-being around Christmas."