Concerns about money, relationships and health top worries for people in the Republic of Ireland in 2009
Monday 16 December
2009
Samaritans urges people to not let their worries
spiral out of control and to seek support for emotional distress
this Christmas and during the coming year.
Over half of the population (59%) in the Republic of Ireland has
worried this year about debt and money, according to a survey
published today by Samaritans and YouGov, with almost a third of
people (29%) describing 2009 as a bad year or their worst year
ever.
The poll of 1,000 people asked the public to identify their five
biggest worries over the past year. After money, other top-five
sources of anxiety were problems in relationships with family and
friends (reported by 38% of people) and fears about job security
(35%) followed by concerns about physical health (32%) and domestic
politics (28%).
Other key findings were:
- exam stress and pressure to achieve high
marks in studies were one of the biggest worries for 52% of young
people (aged 18-24) in the ROI compared with only 30% in the
UK;
- people have been more worried about
domestic politics (28%) and world affairs (17%) than about what is
happening in their own neighbourhood (8%);
- debt, money and bank balance were the
biggest worries for 59% of the population in the ROI compared with
48% in the UK;
- loneliness was one of the top worries
amongst 17% of young people (aged 18-24) compared to only 8% of
older people (aged 55 plus);
- more women (23%) have worried about their
appearance or ageing than men (13%);
- 9% of men have worried about sport and how
their favourite team is doing compared to 2% of women;
- over twice as many women (22%) have
worried about their ability to cope emotionally with life than men
(11%);
- while 29% of people described 2009 as a
bad year, for 17% 2009 was a good year; 45% thought the year had
been both good and bad, featuring ups and downs.
Samaritans’ Director of Ireland, Suzanne Costello, said:
“In the last year, Samaritans received more than 375,000 calls in
the Republic of Ireland and many of them were about the worries
identified in this survey, with approximately one in every ten
calls linked to financial stress.
"If people don’t talk about their problems, they can build up over
time and spiral into more serious emotional distress. Sharing your
troubles can be a huge relief and is often the first step to
finding a way of coping with the challenges that life throws at all
of us. Samaritans’ trained volunteers are available 24/7 to offer
confidential support to anyone feeling anxious, unhappy or
distressed this Christmas and throughout the coming
year.”
A full
national and regional breakdown of the survey for the Republic of
Ireland is available
A
breakdown of the survey for the UK is
available
For further information about the
survey or to set up interviews please contact Sal Lalji, Press
& PR Manager on 020 8394 8342 or email s.lalji@samaritans.org or
contact Gina Phillips from the Dublin office on 00353 1671 0071/
g.phillips@samaritans.org.
-ends-
Notes to Editors
To see the press release on
the UK survey results please click here
Today also sees the launch
of a new Samaritans’ radio advert which will be aired in the
Republic of Ireland, funded by the HSE National Office for Suicide
Prevention. The advert promotes Samaritans’ emotional support
helpline and focuses on the helpline being available at any time to
anyone who is feeling stressed, anxious or unhappy. The advert will
play on national and local radio stations for the next three weeks.
To listen to
the advert, please click here
All figures, unless
otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size for
the Republic of Ireland was 1002 and the UK was 2082 adults.
Fieldwork was undertaken between 27th - 9th November 2009 in the
Republic of Ireland (27-30 November 2009 in the UK). The
survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and
are representative of all Republic of Ireland & UK adults (aged
18+).
Samaritans
Samaritans' vision is for a
society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able
to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of
being judged. Samaritans believes that offering people the
opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without
prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings
Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in
1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone
in emotional distress. The service is offered by 16,534
trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary
support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90
90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org, write to
Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you are
deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number
08457 90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information.
Calls from BT will be charged at up to 2 pence per minute at all
times. A call set-up fee of 7 pence applies to calls from
residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may
vary.