Sources of worry and happiness in Ireland

Abstract

In order to investigate what Irish people worry about and what makes them happy across the life-span, this study was carried out over a two-month period in the spring of 1995. Employing a cross-sectional design, over SOO Irish people, aged from 12–80 years, were surveyed across a number of counties in the Republic of Ireland. Surveyors were 22 students of the National Diploma in Applied Social Studies at Athlone RTC. Using a form specifically drawn up for this study, surveyors asked participants what theirthree greatest sources of worry and happiness were at that moment.Demographic information was also collected. Over the sample as a whole it was found that money, other people including family and friends, personal health, exams and features of current employment, in particular job security, were most frequently cited worries.The most frequent sources of happiness mentioned were family, friends,partner/boy/gir/friend, social-life and features of oneself. Interesting sex differences and changes in the frequency and relative order of sources of worry and happiness across age, marital status and occupation group were also found.