The Holidays Hit Harder as Stress and Spending Spiral

As we barrel toward that No Man’s Land of the year – the day between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day – it should come as no surprise that 28 percent of Americans claim they’re feeling more stress about the holidays this year. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s data, the factors driving that stress vary:

• 47 percent find themselves haunted by grief over a lost loved one.
• 46 percent say it’s because of the financial struggle to pay for gifts.
• And more than a third – 35 percent – worry about dealing with family.

“Although there are several different holidays we celebrate in December, many of us share the same anxiety and excitement about preparing for them,” APA President Ramaswamy Viswanathan, MD, explained. “Holiday stress is normal, and as psychiatrists, we understand that the social determinants of mental health can and do influence the experience of the winter holidays.”

It doesn’t help that the holidays upend our normal schedules, force us into uncomfortable situations, and usually cost a lot of money.

So, before we take off for the next few days, we wanted to highlight a few seasonal studies while we can.

Stress Spurs On Holiday Shopping

Speaking of stress, research out of Sweden shows that this time of year brings out the shopper in all of us, and not just because of annoying Secret Santa exchanges.

While some of us thrive when it comes to reveling in the gifting experience, others buckle under the financial anxiety it causes. Research from the University of Skövde highlights a link between financial stress and impulsive spending. It can trigger a brutal cycle as financial anxiety drives more spending, leading to deeper financial woes, which spurs on more anxiety.

Financial anxiety typically stems from lingering money worries, shaped by other factors, such as income, debt, family size, and personal habits. Festive periods – like Christmas – dumps fuels on the flames, which can strain mental health, family dynamics, and other social relationships.

Jalal Ahamed, lead author of the study, warns that the repercussions could stretch beyond the people around the Christmas dinner table. It could border on a phobia, where in pursuit of avoiding that anxiety, individuals might ignore larger financial issues.

“We often avoid our phobias,” Ahamed added. “This may provide a temporary sense of security, but in the long run, it can limit our opportunities. Similarly, financial anxiety can lead us to avoid checking our finances or addressing financial problems, which can create even larger issues over time. Confronting our phobias, even when it feels uncomfortable, can be an essential part of overcoming them.”

Why Do The Holidays Keep Coming Sooner?

Another paper – appearing in PLOS One – wonders aloud why it seems like the holidays – whether it’s Christmas or Ramadan – show up more quickly every year.

The study’s authors looked at multiple psychological factors, such as age, memory, emotional engagement, and attention to time in participants from Iraq and the United Kingdom and. What they found hints at their interpretation of psychological experiences rather than a distorted sense of temporal perception.

In the UK half of the study, 76 percent of participants agreed that it felt like Christmas arrives sooner each year. In Iraq, 70 percent of the participants felt the same about Ramadan. Enjoyment of the event, attention to time, and prospective memory all emerged as key predictors of this illusion.

Notably, the researchers found that Iraq’s younger participants were more inclined to agree with the sensation. But among the UK participants, age didn’t seem to be a factor at all.

Running contrary to established research that posited that time feels faster with age, this study found that older participants didn’t feel like Ramadan had shown up as quickly. Additionally, while emotional engagement accelerated one’s perception of time, general wellbeing or retrospective memory errors had no little effect.

The findings suggest that increased anticipation of – and preparation for – these events could heighten one’s attention and spawn a sense of time pressure, making the anticipated event feel closer.

“Welcome to the Party, Pal”

Finally, maybe most importantly, a Pitt University english professor, decided to tackle a decades old debate: Is “Die Hard’ a Christmas movie?

What started life as just another summer blockbuster in 1988, the Bruce Willis film has quietly morphed into what many consider a holiday classic. Applying the principles of Rick Altman’s 1985 paper “Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Genre,” Nathan Scroll determined that the film is now just as much a Christmas movie as it is an action thriller.

Scroll looked at how the movie lines up with more conventional Christmas film traditions while clinging to its roots as a thriller. He points to its Christmas Eve setting, themes of family and redemption, and the little festive tidbits sprinkled throughout the film – such as the iconic “Now I Have a Machine Gun Ho-Ho-Ho” moment have cemented its place in the Christmas canon.

Further Reading

Thoughtful or Thoughtless? Settling The Overpackaging Debate

Is Santa’s Naughty List The Ultimate Parenting Hack?

Holidays Highlight Depression. But Hope Emerges.