Future Hopes and Worries
While Canadians are not over-wrought with anxieties about the future, they are far from at ease about what the future might hold. Among the issues tested, Canadians are most concerned about their long-term financial security. That is Canadians are more concerned about their future finances than they are about contracting a terminal disease (27%), being the victim of a violent crime (24%) or looking old (17%). In addition, women are more concerned about these matters than men. This poll also uncovered that a large proportion of Canadian parents worry about who will care for their children should they suddenly die (45%) and are afraid that their children might be abducted/injured by a stranger (40%).
In this Angus Reid Group/CTV/Modern Woman Future Hopes/Future Worries Poll, a representative cross-section of 1,501 Canadians were asked about their hopes, fears, health, children relationships and finances. Respondents were told to consider various situations and to rank each scenario on a scale of one to ten (10 represents strong agreement and 1 represents strong disagreement). For the purposes of this analysis, a high score is determined by combining those respondents who rank a statement 7, 8, 9 or 10 -- these respondents are considered to be "worried/concerned", "afraid" or "hopeful" of the scenario that they were asked to contemplate.
Two in five (40%) afraid that they won't retire comfortably
Above and beyond their anxieties about contracting a terminal disease, personal safety or looking old, Canadians are most concerned about their long-term financial security. Two in five (40%) Canadians are afraid that they "won't make and save enough money to retire comfortably". Women (43%) are more concerned than men (36%) about retiring comfortably.
In addition, only one-third (33%) are confident about their future financial prospects. That is they agree with the statement that "in the future I won't have to worry about having enough money."
One-quarter (27%) worry about contracting a terminal disease
The second most prevalent worry among the items tested concerned terminal diseases. Twenty-seven percent of all Canadians worry about "getting cancer, AIDS or another terminal disease". One in three (33%) women share this worry with only one in five (22%) men.
Threat of violence looms heavy among Canadian women and parents
Among the items tested, personal safety concerned the third largest proportion of Canadians (24% indicated that they are "afraid of being a victim of a violent crime"). In addition, two-fifths (40%) of Canadian parents fear their children will be "abducted or injured by a stranger".
Women (31%) are almost twice as likely as men (17%) to indicate that they are afraid of being the object of violent crime. Similarly, mothers (52%) are twice as likely as fathers (26%) to express fear about their children being abducted or injured by a stranger.
British Columbians are the most concerned about being the victim of a violent crime (30%), and residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba are least afraid about this eventuality (19%).
Quebecers are the most concerned about the safety of their children (50%) while Atlantic Canadians are most at ease about the safety of their children (only 28% are very afraid about the eventuality that their children will be injured or abducted by a stranger).
Looking old isn't so bad
Only 17 percent of Canadians are "afraid of looking old". Women (20%) are slightly more likely than men (14%) to have this fear.
Notably, Quebecers (21%) are most "afraid of looking old" while British Columbians (11%) are the least "afraid of looking old".
Interpersonal relationships are of outmost importance to Canadians
Through all their worries and fears, Canadians hope to have strong interpersonal relationships. Specifically, eighty-three percent of Canadians place a high value on having a "loving, mutually respectful relationship with a partner" and 84 percent hope to "always have good friends to count on".
It is interesting to note that while men and women both have strong positive feelings about having a loving, mutually respectful relationship with a partner, friendships are more highly valued by woman than men (89% versus 79%).
One in five (17%) Canadians are afraid of "never finding the right person as a life partner".
Mothers worry more than fathers about who will care for their children in event that they die suddenly
In addition to the hopes and worries that were tested in this survey, we also undertook to examine how worried Canadian parents about who will care for their children should they suddenly die. Forty-five percent of all Canadian parents worry about who will care for their children in the event that they should suddenly die. While the prospect of this eventuality weighs heavily among both men and women, this worry is more pronounced among mothers (53%) than among fathers (36%).
Quebecers (72%) are the most concerned about this tragic scenario while British Columbians are the least worried (only 29% are worried).
This Angus Reid Group/CTV/Modern Woman Magazine Poll was conducted by telephone between March 9th and March 13th among a representative cross-section of 1,500 Canadian adults. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data. With a Canada-wide sample of 1,501, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results are within ±2.6 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Rose D. Sottile
Research Manager, Strategic Communications
Angus Reid Group
(416) 324-2900
