Background to the Research
- This chapter focuses on
a number of key aspects of social life in NI, in particular, informal
relations in the family and wider society. It explores the frequency of
respondents' contact with their family and close friends, their normative
orientation towards relationships with family and friends, their sources
of social support and the extent of social isolation.
- Comparisons are also made
with attitudes towards family and social networks in Britain.
Research
Approach
- The data used by the author come from the
2001 NILT survey.
- The NILT survey began in 1998 and is carried
out annually. Interviews are conducted with a random selection of
adults (aged 18 years and over) who live in private households in
NI.
- The sample size for the 2001 NILT survey
was 1,800 respondents.
- A number of the same questions were also
included in the 2001 British Social Attitudes survey, thus allowing
for comparisons with Britain.
Main
Findings
- 41% of respondents in NI see or visit a
non-resident adult child every day and 23% see their mother on a similarly
frequent basis.
- Over two thirds of respondents (70%) live
within a thirty-minute journey time of their mother's house.
- The least frequently seen or visited relatives
are siblings and few respondents report having no face-to-face contact
with their close relatives.
- 67% of respondents see or visit their
father at least once a week, with 19% seeing him on a daily basis
- The proportion of respondents who have
daily contact with close relatives is approximately three times higher
in NI than in Britain.
- Fewer respondents in NI than in Britain
say they have no contact with their wider family network.
- Three quarters of respondents agree with
the statement that 'you should take care of yourself and your family
first before helping other people'.
- More than three fifths of respondents in
NI (61%) agree that 'adult children have a duty to look after their
elderly parents', compared with 46% of their counterparts in Britain.
- Nine out of ten respondents in both NI
and Britain would turn first to a member of their immediate family
if they needed help with a household chore while they were ill and
71% would turn to family members if they were depressed.
- 84% of respondents in NI see or visit their
best friend at least once a week compared with 60% of respondents
who live in Britain.
- One in eight NI respondents (13%) claim
that they have no close friends.
- Approximately one half of NI respondents
are not members of any kind of voluntary groups or associations.
- 74% of respondents in NI and 81% in Britain
say that 'there are only a few people I can trust completely'.
- The majority of respondents in NI (over
60%) feel that people like them have little or no chance of influencing
the government, or of understanding what goes on in politics. Furthermore,
66% feel that the identity of the party in government does not matter
very much since things go on in much the same way as ever.
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