Christmas can be stressful for some even in non-pandemic times, and Christmas 2021 comes with the rising threat of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and uncertainty about post-Christmas restrictions.
Three in 10 Britons (31%) say they’re currently feeling stressed about Christmas, including 6% who say they’re “very” stressed.
Who is feeling the festive strain the most?
Parents of young children, 25 to 44-year-olds and women are feeling most stressed about Christmas this year.
Two in five (41%) parents with children aged between 5 and 11 years old say they’re feeling stressed about Christmas, compared with a quarter (25%) of parents of children over 18 and a third (32%) of non-parents.
Festive stress appears to affect 25 to 44-year-olds most (37%) and the over-55s least (24%), and women are more likely to say they’re feeling stressed about Christmas (36%) than men (25%).
How has stress changed in the run up to Christmas?
Our stress tracker shows there has been a slight increase in the proportion of Britons saying they’re feeling stressed about Christmas.
On 3-5 December, a quarter (26%) of Britons said they were feeling stressed about Christmas, compared to 31% now.
See full results here and historical data here