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Personal Concerns

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Respondents were asked how concerned they were about each of the following impacts of COVID-19;

  1. Their own health
  2. Somebody else's health (e.g. friend or relative)
  3. Maintaining social ties
  4. Impact of interrupted education
  5. Household stress from confinement
  6. Violence in the home

Respondents could answer “Not at all”, “Somewhat”, “Very” or “Extremely” for questions 1-4, and “Not at all”, “Somewhat” or “Very” for questions 5 & 6.

Analysis of results shows that respondents were most concerned about somebody else’s health, where over six in ten (63.4%) were either Very or Extremely concerned. The next biggest concern was for respondents living in a household where a household member is currently in education, where over four in ten (44.3%) were Very or Extremely concerned about the impact of interrupted education.

Almost a third of respondents (32.4%) were Very or Extremely concerned about maintaining social ties, while a quarter (25.8%) were Very or Extremely concerned about their own health.

Of respondents living in multiple person households, 17.3% were Very concerned about household stress from confinement, and 2.1% were Very concerned about violence in the home.  See Figure 3.1.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVery/Extremely
Violence in the home943.92.1
Household stress from confinement23.259.617.3
Impact of interrupted education14.241.544.3
Maintaining social ties19.847.932.4
Somebody else's health1.734.963.4
Own health16.457.825.8

Own Health  

Analysis of concern with own health by age class shows that the proportion of those who are Very concerned about their own health increased with age, see Figure 3.2.  Respondents aged 70 and over were most likely to be Extremely concerned about their own health at 16.7%, compared to 5.4% of respondents aged 18-34.  Respondents aged 18-34 were the most likely to report being Not at all concerned about their own health, 28.7%, compared to 5.7% of those aged 70 and over.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVeryExtremely
18 to 3428.755.310.65.4
35 to 442157.515.75.8
45 to 5412.46418.45.2
55 to 695.659.923.810.6
70+5.751.825.816.7

Respondents that considered their health status as Fair/bad/very bad were more concerned about their own health, where 29.0% were Very concerned and 15.1% were Extremely concerned, compared to those with very good health where less than one in ten (9.1%) were Very concerned and 7.0% were Extremely concerned.  See Figure 3.3.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVeryExtremely
Very good27.856.19.17
Good13.462.118.85.7
Fair/Bad/Very bad5.750.32915.1

Somebody Else’s Health

Although the proportions of male and females that were either Very or Extremely concerned about somebody’s health were similar (62.4% and 64.3% respectively), over a quarter of females (27.6%) were Extremely concerned about somebody else’s health, compared to one in five (20.1%) of males.  See Figure 3.4.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVeryExtremely
Male0.836.842.320.1
Female2.73336.727.6

Respondents aged 18-34 were most concerned about somebody else’s health with 32.4% Extremely concerned compared to 18.5% of those aged 70 or more.   See Figure 3.5.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVeryExtremely
18-34128.538.132.4
35-441.933.844.220.1
45-540.432.442.824.4
55-691.644.134.919.4
70 and over5.138.937.518.5

Social Ties  

Those respondents who were separated/widowed/divorced were more concerned about maintaining social ties, where 42.0% were Very or Extremely concerned compared to 33.6% of those who were married and 27.9% of those who were single (never married).  See Figure 3.6.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVery/Extremely
Single - never married2646.127.9
Married1551.433.6
Separated, divorced or widowed21.836.242

Furthermore, respondents aged 70 and over were more concerned about maintaining social ties than respondents in other age groups. Almost half (46.3%) of respondents aged 70 and over were Very or Extremely concerned about maintaining social ties, compared to 29.6% of those aged 18 to 34. Almost four in ten(38.0%) of respondents living in rural areas were Very or Extremely concerned about maintaining social ties, compared to just under three in ten (29.5%) of those living in urban areas, see Table 3.3.

Looking at the well-being indicators along with concerns about maintaining social ties, respondents who felt very nervous, downhearted or depressed, or lonely at least some of the time in the past four weeks were more concerned about maintaining social ties than those who felt very nervous, downhearted or depressed, or lonely a little or none of the time. For example, 45% of those that that were Very or Extremely concerned about maintaining social ties reported feeling lonely at least some of the time in the past four weeks.  See Table 3.3.

Interrupted Education

Analysis of respondents living in a household where there is a household member currently in education, shows that those living in rented accommodation were more concerned about the impact of interrupted education than respondents living in owner occupied households. More than one in five (23.9%) respondents living in rented accommodation were Extremely concerned about the impact of interrupted education, compared to only one in ten (9.5%) of those living in an owner-occupied dwelling.  See Figure 3.7.

X-axis labelNot at allSomewhatVeryExtremely
Owner-occupied17.640.732.19.5
Rented6.443.326.323.9

Household Stress from Confinement

Respondents living in multiple person households were more likely to be Very concerned about household stress from confinement if they were living in rented accommodation (22.4%) or if there was one ‘room’* or less per person (20.8%). In comparison, 15.2% of respondents living in owner occupied dwellings and 16.6% of those living in households with more than one ‘room’* per person were Very concerned about household stress from confinement. Furthermore, respondents living in an Apartment/Flat/Bedsitter had the highest proportion for Very concerned about household stress from confinement at 20.1%, when compared with respondents in other dwelling types. See Table 3.5.

*Rooms includes rooms such as kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, conservatories you can sit in, and studies. It does not include bathrooms, toilets, kitchenettes, utility rooms, consulting rooms, offices, shops, halls, or landings, or rooms that can only be used for storage such as cupboards.

Looking at the well-being indicators along with concerns about household stress from confinement shows that 42.6% of respondents who rated their overall life satisfaction as high were Not at all concerned regarding household stress from confinement, whereas only 7.1% of those who rated their life satisfaction as low were Not at all concerned, see Table 3.5. Also, 31.1% of respondents without access to non-material help were Very concerned about household stress from confinement, compared to 15.1% with access. In relation to emotional well-being, respondents who felt very nervous, downhearted or depressed, or lonely at least some of the time in the past four weeks were more concerned about household stress from confinement than those who felt very nervous, downhearted or depressed, or lonely a little or none of the time. For example, 27.7% of those that were Very concerned about household stress from confinement reported feeling very nervous at least some of the time in the past four weeks compared to 8.1% of those who felt very nervous none of the time.  See Table 3.5.

Violence in the Home      

The majority (94.0%) of respondents were Not at all concerned about violence in the home, however 6.0% were Somewhat or Very concerned. Furthermore, the gender breakdown shows no significant difference between males and females, where 5.8% of males and 6.2% of females were Somewhat or Very concerned about violence in the home.

Please note due to the relatively small sample sizes for respondents who were concerned about violence in the home it was not possible to provide further demographical breakdown estimates for this cohort.

Table 3.1 Concern about own health by demographic and household characteristics, April 2020

Table 3.2 Concerned about someone elses health by demographic and household characteristics, April 2020

Table 3.3 Concerned about maintaining social ties by demographic and household characteristics, April 2020

Table 3.4 Concerned about impact of interrupted education by demographic and household characteristics, April 2020

Table 3.5 Concerned about household stress from confinement by demographic and household characteristics, April 2020

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