他和她,誰的工作壓力更大?

Too much work, too little money and not enough opportunity for growth are stressing us out on the job, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association.

美國心理學會(American Psychological Association)新近的一項調查顯示，工作太繁重，薪水太微薄，向上發展的機會又不多，這一切都讓我們在工作中備感壓力。

One-third of employees experience chronic stress related to work, the survey found. Women report higher levels of work stress than men, as well as a gnawing sense that they are underappreciated and underpaid.

圖：男性與女性工作壓力比較該調查發現，有三分之一的就業者長期經受着工作相關壓力的困擾。女性自述的工作壓力程度要高於男性，而且與男性相比，認爲自己沒有獲得充分賞識、薪酬過低而痛苦煎熬的女性所佔比例也更高。

Fifty-four percent of the 1,501 employed adults surveyed say they feel they are paid too little for their contributions, and 61% said their jobs don't offer adequate opportunities to advance. Only half of the adults polled said they feel valued at work.

參與調查的1,501名成年就業者中有54%的人認爲自己酬不抵勞，61%的人稱工作沒有爲自己提供足夠多的晉升機會。只有一半的受調查者稱自己覺得在工作中受到了重視。

Women feel especially stuck and tense, the association survey indicates. Thirty-two percent of women said their employers don't provide sufficient opportunities for internal advancement, compared with 30% of men. Women are more likely to feel tense during a typical workday, reporting more often that their employer doesn't appreciate what they do.

這項調查表明，女性比男性更容易感到緊張焦慮、覺得身陷困境難以前行。32%的女性稱她們的僱主沒有提供足夠多的內部晉升機會，有30%的男性持有同樣的觀點。在一天的日常工作中，女性更易感到焦慮不安，更多的女性在報告中稱自己的僱主沒有讚賞她們在工作中的付出。

The annual survey, conducted in January and released Tuesday, found the proportion of chronically stressed individuals has shrunk to 35% this year, compared with 41% in 2012, suggesting an improving economy and job market are making some people's work lives easier. But smaller percentages reported satisfaction with their jobs and work-life balance compared with 2012 -- two areas that had been on the upswing.

這份在一月份進行調研、於三月初發表的調查報告指出，受長期壓力折磨的人數比例在今年已減少至35%，而在2012年這一數據爲41%。這表明，不斷好轉的經濟形勢和就業市場正讓一些人的職場生活變得比以前輕鬆。但與2012年相比，那些自述對工作感到滿意且能兼顧生活與工作、平衡二者關係的人數比例今年卻在下降。而在過去，這兩方面的人數比例一直都呈上升態勢。

Women's stress is rising as families rely more on women's earnings. An employed wife's contribution to family earnings has hovered, on average, at 47% since 2009. But in that year, it jumped from 45% -- the biggest single-year rise in more than two decades, said Kristin Smith, sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire. The comparable figure in 1988 was 38%.

隨着現代家庭對女性收入的依賴性越來越高，女性的壓力也在日益上升。新罕布什爾大學(University of New Hampshire)的社會學教授克里斯汀•史密斯(Kristin Smith)說，自2009年以後，一名在職妻子對全家總收入的貢獻比例均值一直在47%上下徘徊。這一數 是從2009年的45%飆升起來的，創下了二十多年來的最高年度漲幅。在1988年這一數據僅爲38%。

Emotional responses to stress often divide along gender lines, with men more likely to have a 'fight or flight' reaction while women are more likely to have a 'tend and befriend' response, seeking comfort in relationships and care of loved ones, according to research by Shelley E. Taylor, health psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and others.

加利福尼亞大學洛杉磯分校(University of California, Los Angeles)健康心理學教授雪萊•E.泰勒(Shelley E. Taylor)與他人合作進行的一項研究表明，人們對壓力的情緒反應常常因性別的不同而不同。男性在面對壓力時更易產生一種“或打或逃”的反應，而女性則易產生一種“照料+交友”的反應，她們會從友好關係中尋求安慰、從所愛的人身上找尋關懷。

Physically, the body responds to stress by secreting hormones into the bloodstream that spur accelerated heart rate and breathing and tensing of muscles. People who experience stress as a positive often have increased blood flow to the brain, muscles and limbs, similar to the effects of aerobic exercise. Those who feel frightened or threatened, however, often have an erratic heart rate and constricting blood vessels. Their blood pressure rises and hands and feet may grow cold. They may become agitated, speak more loudly or experience lapses in judgment.

從生理角度來說，身體對壓力的反應表現在會有荷爾蒙分泌到血液中去，導致心跳加速、呼吸加劇、肌肉緊縮。那些將壓力視爲積極因素的人常常會使流向大腦、肌肉和四肢的血液增加，這同進行有氧運動的效果相似。而那些在重壓下感到害怕、如受脅迫的人則常常會心率不穩、血管收縮。他們的血壓會升高，手腳可能會變得冰涼。他們還可能會煩躁不安、嗓門變大或出現判斷失誤的情況。

Either way, too much stress is harmful to individuals and companies, says David Posen, a physician and author of the book 'Is Work Killing You? A Doctor's Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress.'

《工作會殺了你嗎？一位醫生爲治療工作壓力而開的處方》(Is Work Killing You? A Doctor's Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress)一書的作者、內科醫生大衛•波茲南(David Posen)稱，不論是上述哪種情況，過多的壓力對個人和公司而言都沒有好處。

'Chronic stress reduces all of the things that help productivity -- mental clarity, short-term memory, decision-making and moods,' Dr. Posen says.

波茲南博士還稱：“長期的壓力會減少一切有助於提高生產率的因素──思路的清晰度，短期記憶力，決策力和情緒。”

Karen Herbison, 46, experienced symptoms of chronic stress after management changes in her department three years ago, and her management style was criticized as not tough enough, she says. She says she was told that while her bosses liked her, 'there's just something missing.'

46歲的凱倫•赫比森(Karen Herbison)在三年前她所在的部門實施管理改革後就出現了長期壓力的症狀。赫比森說，她的管理方式被指責爲不夠嚴厲。赫比森還稱，當時她被告知，雖然老闆們很喜歡她，但“就是缺了點兒什麼”。

She stretched her 45-hour workweek to 55 hours. Even so, Ms. Herbison recalls. 'I felt like I was doing everything wrong.'

赫比森將一週45小時的工作時間延長至55小時。她回憶道，即便如此，“我當時覺得自己做的每一件事都是錯的”。

She began to experience insomnia and irritability, and she had heart palpitations at work. 'I was short-tempered and yelling at my kids,' she recalls. 'I felt like I was losing my mind.' She saw a psychiatrist briefly and decided, 'I have to remove myself from the situation. This is not who I am.'

赫比森開始失眠、易怒，她在工作的時候還曾出現過心悸。她回憶說：“我那時愛發脾氣，總衝我的孩子們大吼大叫，我覺得自己正在失去理智。”她去一個精神病醫生那裏簡單地看了看，然後做出決定：“我必須得從這個境況中走出來，這不是我應該有的狀態。”

Ms. Herbison's stress vanished as soon as she left her former employer earlier this year to open a senior home-care company, Visiting Angels, with her husband in Eau Claire, Wis.

今年年初，赫比森離開了之前工作的地方，與丈夫在威斯康星州歐克萊爾市(Eau Claire)開辦了一家名叫“天使來訪”(Visiting Angels)的老年人居家護理公司，她的壓力也隨之消失了。

Such a reaction isn't uncommon in healthy individuals who leave a highly stressful situation. But if harmful levels of stress continue for too long, a person may lose the ability to relax, a condition linked in research to numerous health problems.

這樣的反應在那些從高壓環境中抽身出來的健康人羣中很常見。但如果壓力的危害性持續時間太長的話，人可能就會喪失放鬆身心的能力。研究表明，這種狀況與衆多健康問題息息相關。

Women tend to 'internalize,' which contributes to their stress, says Lois Barth, a New York-based business and relationship coach. Many women hesitate to speak up for themselves or challenge behavior they see as unfair. 'Women have to give themselves a voice,' she says.

紐約的職場與人際關係諮詢師路易斯•巴斯(Lois Barth)稱，女性傾向於“內化”，這是她們壓力形成的原因之一。許多女性有所顧慮，不願坦言內心想法、爲自己發聲，不願挑戰那些在她們看來並不公平的行爲。巴斯說：“女性亟須爲自己發聲。”

Sarah Broadbent Manago, 41, was used to meeting deadlines as an information technology consultant. But she says she began to doubt herself when she felt undermined by a manager. She now works as a senior information-technology project manager for another company and says the experience left her believing women in particular 'feel stressed when they are challenged or devalued by their managers.'

41歲的莎拉•布羅德班特•瑪納戈(Sarah Broadbent Manago)曾是一名信息技術顧問，習慣於在截至日期前完成任務。但瑪納戈稱，當她感覺有位經理在質疑她時，她開始懷疑自己。瑪納戈現在在另外一家公司工作，出任高級信息技術項目經理一職。她說，之前的經歷讓她覺得，當受到來自上司的質疑或被上司低估時，女性尤其會感到有壓力。

Women managers in male-dominated fields sometimes find the stress of juggling family responsibilities intolerable. Interior designer Kay Keaney, 40, rose fast at a California medical group, taking on responsibility for interior and facility planning and construction management for health-care facilities. With her 60-hour workweeks, plus early-morning and late-night meetings and a 1.5-hour commute each way, she seldom had time with her two small children. Yet she hesitated to complain.

在男性占主導地位的領域裏，女性管理人員有時會覺得邊工作還得邊承擔家庭責任的壓力是難以忍受的。40歲的室內設計師凱•基尼(Kay Keaney)曾在加州一家醫療集團工作，她升職很快，負責室內與設施規劃以及健康護理設備的施工管理。基尼每週工作60個小時，還要早出晚歸參加晨會和深夜的會議，而上班花在路上的時間單程就需要一個半小時。這樣一來，她很少有時間陪在兩個幼子身邊。即便如此，她還是不敢抱怨。

'There was too much work to be done, and playing the Mommy card was bad form,' Ms. Keaney says.

基尼說：“手頭有太多工作要做，但若以自己是兩個孩子的媽媽爲藉口緩一緩又不合適。”

Whether stuck in traffic on her way to a 6 p.m. pickup at day care, or torn between her children and urgent work emails, 'I just wanted to crawl out of my skin,' she says. 'I was overwhelmed.'

基尼有時在下午六點前必須趕到日託所去接孩子卻被堵在了路上，有時必須在照顧孩子與處理緊急工作郵件中做出選擇，她說：“那時我都要抓狂了，我已不堪重負。”

Ms. Keaney had feelings of panic, headaches and a racing heart. It was a wake-up call, she says, when her 2-year-old son Stanley grabbed her BlackBerry from her while she was cooking dinner and hurled it angrily across the kitchen.

基尼還曾出現過恐慌、頭痛和心跳加速的感覺。她說，有次她邊做飯邊在黑莓手機上通話，兩歲的兒子斯坦利(Stanley)從她手裏搶走了手機，生氣地將它扔到了廚房的另一頭，這件事讓她幡然醒悟。

The Keaneys moved from San Jose to Media, Pa., where Ms. Keaney now works as a consumer-experience specialist for a homeopathic products company. She is home with her children after school, she has shed 20 pounds, and her kids are much happier, Ms. Keaney says. Her stress is near zero, she says. High-paying jobs seem to require 'selling your soul,' she says. 'We decided the rat race wasn't really worth it.'

基尼一家後來從聖何塞(San Jose)搬到了賓夕法尼亞州的米堤亞(Media)。她現在在當地的一家順勢治療產品公司從事消費者體驗專員的工作。基尼說，孩子們放學以後，她就在家陪着他們。如今她已瘦身20磅，孩子們也快樂多了。她說她現在幾乎是零壓力。她說，高薪工作似乎都要求你“出賣自己的靈魂，我們認爲，這種激烈無情的競爭不值得我們搭上靈魂”。

Work has invaded every hour of the day, including time once reserved for personal care. Experts say we can't even count on vacations to help us decompress.

工作已經侵佔了每一天當中的每一個小時，包括那些爲個體關懷而預留出的時間。專家說，我們甚至不能指望通過度假來幫助自己減壓。

A survey released last week by the consulting firm Accenture found 75% of respondents work frequently or occasionally during paid time off. The most common activity was checking email -- 71% reported doing this -- but 30% said they participated in conference calls, and 44% said they use these nominal days off to catch up on work. 'The running joke is that you can take time off, but when you come back, you pay the price for it,' said Nellie Borrero, Accenture's managing director of global inclusion and diversity.

埃森哲諮詢公司(Accenture)最近發佈的一份調查顯示，75%的被訪者經常或偶爾在帶薪休假期間工作。最常做的事情就是查看電子郵件──71%的人自述有這種行爲，另有30%的人稱，他們會參加電話會議，44%的人稱他們會利用這些名義上的假期趕完工作任務。埃森哲全球包容性與多元化部門主管內爾•波瑞羅(Nellie Borrero)說：“坊間流傳着這樣一個笑話：你當然能休假，但當你回來工作的時候，你得爲此付出代價。”