It seems as if everyone has something to be stressed about these days, but Millennials—young adults between the ages of 18 and 33—are feeling it more than most. When the polling organization Harris Interactive asked Americans how stressed they were on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), the average American reportedly came in slightly under 5; but when Harris looked at the numbers for just young adults, it found the average Millennial felt his or her stress level is about 5.4. More than half say anxiety has kept them up at night in the past month, and nearly two-fifths of young adults say their stress level has gotten worse in the past year. Experts say these stressed-out Millennials may simply feel at more liberty to share how stressed they are than previous generations, but perhaps not—and there’s no question that youth have plenty to be stressed about. “Millennials are growing up at a tough time,” says Mike Hais, a market researcher and an expert on the generation. “They were sheltered in many ways, with a lot of high expectations for what they should achieve. Individual failure is difficult to accept when confronted with a sense you’re an important person and expected to achieve. Even though, in most instances, it’s not their fault—the economy collapsed just as many of them were getting out of college and coming of age—that does lead to a greater sense of stress.” (USA Today)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.