A survey published today by Samaritans and YouGov reports that nearly half the UK population (48 percent) has worried this year about debt and money. In addition, almost a quarter of people (23 percent) describe 2009 as a bad year or their worst year ever.

More than 2,000 people participated in the poll. The public was asked to identify their five biggest worries over the past year. Following money, other top-five sources of anxiety were problems in relationships with family and friends reported by 35 percent of people, physical health concerns by 32 percent, followed by fears over job security by 24% percent and workplace stress by 24 percent.
Other major findings were:

• Among young people aged 18 to 24, loneliness is one of the top worries (21 percent) compared to only 8 percent of older people aged 55 and over.

• 25 percent of women have been anxious about their appearance or ageing compared to 18 percent of men.

• 10 percent of men worry about sport and how their favorite team is doing. Whereas only 1 percent of women did.

• About twice as many women (23 percent) have been anxious about their capacity to deal emotionally with life than men (11 percent).

• In general, people have been more concerned about domestic politics (24 percent) and world affairs (23 percent) than about what is happening in their own neighborhood (8 percent).

• 23 percent of people described 2009 as a bad year, while 18 percent described 2009 as a good year. 41 percent considered the year had been both good and bad, with ups and downs.

Catherine Johnstone, Samaritans’ Chief Executive remarked: “In the last year, Samaritans received five million calls 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.”

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.

Samaritans
Christmas Survey 2009

Written by Stephanie Brunner (B.A.)