So much for “Sunday Funday.” In a new YouGov poll, we asked Americans how often they experience the “Sunday scaries”, a term for feelings of anxiety that some people get the day or night before they return to work or school each week.
About one in seven (14%) Americans who have work or school obligations experiences the Sunday scaries every week. A similar number (15%) say they’re struck by this anxious feeling most weeks, while 9% say it happens to them about once a month.
Members of Gen Z (39%) and Millennials (38%) who have work or school are more likely than Gen X’ers (28%) and Baby Boomers (15%) to say they get the Sunday scaries all or most weeks.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who report “hating” their jobs are especially likely to be struck by anxiety before the workweek begins. Among this group, 27% get the Sunday scaries every week. Among those who say their feelings about their job are best captured by the statement, “It’s only okay, but it’s not the worse,” about half as many (12%) get the Sunday scaries each week.
Those who “like but don’t love” their job get the Sunday scaries less often, with 9% saying they get these feelings every week. Among those who love their jobs, 13% still get the Sunday scaries each week, but a much higher percentage (40%) say they “never” have these feelings.
See full results here.
Related: One in five working Americans believes their job is meaningless
Methodology: 30,431 US adults, including 21,890 were surveyed between July 16 - 23, 2021. The responding sample is weighted to be representative of the US population.
Image: Gender Spectrum Collection
