The things that Americans fear the most — Forever 39 Podcast

Forever 39 is New Jersey 101.5's new podcast about living life as Gen Xers in New Jersey, hosted by Annette Petriccione, Megan Barsel and lots of our friends from the NJ 101.5 universe.

What Americans fear — Does your top fear make the cut?

Flying, public speaking, heights, spiders … the list goes on of some of the most common fears Americans struggle with. Do you suffer from any of these fears, and has that fear increased or decreased over the years?

And no matter what you fear, it's clear that fear is alive and well in America. In their 2016 report of American fears, Chapman University asked over 1,500 people about their level of fear in nearly 80 different categories ranging from crime, government and illness.

The top five personal fears among Americans in 2016 include:

• Reptiles
• Public speaking
• Insects
• Deep lakes and oceans
• Small enclosed spaces

And as for the top 10 fears Americans feared most last year, government was a major player with 60 percent of American listing government corruption as their top fear. Check out the rest of the top 10 here.

Also from this week's Forever 39 podcast — Are you spending too little or too much on wedding gifts? PLUS: Rules for wearing underwear.

Join us for next week’s podcast when we chat about how to put a spark back into your relationship, our top five celebrity crushes and if napping at work is a good idea.

Share your thoughts on all of them below, on Twitter, on Facebook or at forever39@nj1015.com.

— Annette and Megan, Forever 39