INDIANA – Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love but, for many, the holiday can be extremely stressful.
In fact, a new survey commissioned by BetterHelp, in partnership with global research company Material, found that nearly half of Americans are stressed about their love lives.
The survey of more than 1,000 adults revealed that nearly half of Americans (47%) are stressed about their love lives, and those who aren’t married are more likely to feel this stress than those who are (55% vs. 38%).
The survey took a look at how Americans are feeling about their love lives this Valentine’s Day, and how the holiday impacts their mental well-being.
Key findings include:
- Approximately 15 million American adults say their mental health gets worse around Valentine’s Day, and approximately 10 million say talking to a therapist helps them feel less stressed or anxious around the holiday.
- These feelings are most pronounced among Gen Z, with 70% of Gen Z’ers feeling stressed about their love lives and 44% feeling negativity around Valentine’s Day.
- Respondents said they plan to improve their dating or love lives by going out more (40%), being set up by friends/family (19%), and prioritizing dating (18%).
- Interestingly, Gen Z respondents were more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to seek help from a therapist with their love lives (17% vs. 7%), and all demographics felt that talking to a therapist about dating stress would be about as effective as using more dating apps (13%) in improving their love lives.
Furthermore, the survey indicates that approximately 15 million American adults say their mental health gets worse around Valentine’s Day, and more than a quarter (26%) of Americans feel negativity around the holiday.
These feelings are most pronounced among Gen Z, with 70% feeling stressed about their love lives compared to Millennials (57%), Gen X (49%), and Baby Boomers (27%). Similarly, 44% of Gen Z respondents say they feel negativity around Valentine’s Day, compared to 33% of Millennials, 24% of Gen X, and 14% of Baby Boomers.
But talking to people can help. Nearly 1 in 3 American adults (32%) say they’re comfortable talking to a significant other about their mental health, and approximately 10 million say talking to a therapist helps them feel less stressed or anxious around Valentine’s Day.
So how do single people plan to improve their dating or love lives? While about a third (33%) of single people say nothing can help their dating or love life, there are some potential solutions. 40% of single people say that going out more might help while being set up by friends/family (19%) and prioritizing dating (18%) were other top fixes. Gen Z respondents were more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to seek help from a therapist with their love lives (17% vs. 7%), and all demographics felt that talking to a therapist about dating stress would be about as effective as using more dating apps (13%) in improving their love lives.
A licensed therapist at BetterHelp, Haesue Jo, LMFT, offered these tips to help alleviate dating and love life stress:
- You’ve heard it before: be yourself, be honest, and quit the games. Putting yourself out there is challenging, and facing the possibility of being rejected when you start really liking someone can start making you bite your tongue or refrain from being honest and direct about your feelings and intentions. While it may be difficult, honest communication from the beginning will help you waste less time with people who aren’t on the same page.
- Spend energy, time, and some money on yourself where it matters – invest in your wellness all around, from being physically healthy to being mentally and emotionally strong. Learn to nurture the most important relationship you have – the one with you! Taking care of yourself and nurturing your needs is the foundation of self-love. If you aren’t someone you’d want to spend time with, how can you really expect anyone else to want to?
- Put effort into your other important relationships and maintain a solid support system, and this is important whether you’re single, dating, married, divorced, or anything in between. Love comes in many forms, and giving and receiving love can happen with (chosen) family and friends too. Dating isn’t the only source of loving fulfillment, and counting on our dates to be the one source of love, affection, entertainment, companionship, and everything else is just a lot of pressure for anyone.
To learn more about BetterHelp’s mental health services, please visit www.betterhelp.com.
