Euro-barometer 37.1: Consumer Goods and Social Security, April-May 1992 (ICPSR 9957)

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This round of Euro-Barometer surveys queried respondents on standard Euro-Barometer measures such as public awareness of and attitudes toward the Common Market and the European Community (EC), and also focused on consumer goods, Social Security, health care and health care benefits, the elderly, retirement, and alcohol and drug use. Questions concerning consumer goods asked whether respondents read product information before purchasing, what additional product information they would like to see, what three things other than price were most important in deciding whether to purchase an item, and whether it was necessary to have the same type of product information available for all members of the European Community (EC). Respondents' attitudes and opinions on Social Security were probed with questions that asked whether they agreed that Social Security properly protects the unemployed, the elderly, the sick or disabled, those with work-related injuries or illness, and the poor. Respondents were also asked whether policies on pensions, minimum income, and unemployment should be decided by national governments or by the EC, and whether foreigners should have the same Social Security benefits as citizens. The general health of respondents and their health care benefits were assessed through questions that asked whether they had a long-standing illness, disability, or infirmity, whether they had cut down their activity due to illness or injury, and whether they had taken medicine or talked to a doctor within the last 30 days. Respondents were also queried about which conditions they would see a doctor for and what type of examinations they had had in the past three years. Respondents were asked to rate what they paid for various medical services, the general quality of their health care, and the nature and availability of health insurance. The main problems facing the elderly and the role the elderly play in society were also topics of investigation in this survey. Questions elicited respondents' views toward possible changes in pension terms, whether retirement should occur at a fixed age, what types of discrimination affect the elderly who are working, whether the government should introduce laws to try to stop age discrimination, whether a minimum level of income should be provided to the elderly, and whether the elderly needing personal care should go into residential/nursing homes or should have social services help them remain in their homes for as long as possible. Respondents were also asked whether they provided long-term care to anyone either living with them or not living with them, who was in the best position to decide which services are most important for the elderly, what the best method of financing long-term care for the elderly was, and whether the EC was doing enough with regard to the elderly. Questions on retirement dealt with what ages respondents retired/planned to retire, whether the retired felt their pensions to be adequate, whether working people looked forward to retiring, whether pensions should be extended to widows and dependent children, whether pensions should be reduced for those who work for earned income beyond retirement, and whether pensions should be provided through government taxation, employer/employee contributions, or private contracts between workers and pension companies. Queries about alcohol and drug usage probed the use of beer, wine, spirits, and other forms of alcohol, age at which the respondent began drinking, familiarity with major forms of drugs, age at which drugs were first offered, how difficult it was to get drugs, and the means available for getting drugs. Additional questions focused on how the respondent viewed the drug problem, the top priority in eliminating the drug problem, diminishing the effects of drug use, whether drug use leads to AIDS, prostitution, health problems, social problems, violence, suicide, personality breakdowns, and problems with the law, and the major reasons for alcohol and drug use. Demographic and other background information was gathered on life satisfaction, number of people residing in the home, size of locality, home ownership, trade union membership, region of residence, and occupation of the head of household, as well as the respondent's age, sex, marital status, education, occupation, work sector, religiosity, subjective social class, use of media, left-right political self-placement, and opinion leadership.

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