Eurobarometer 37.1 (Apr-May 1992)

The main topics of this Eurobarometer are:

1. Paying attention to product information,

2. Social security,

3. Older people and retirement questions.

Topics: Citizenship and eligibility to vote at place of residence;
general contentment with life; personal opinion leadership and
frequency of political discussions; interest in politics;
postmaterialism; frequency of listening to news on the radio,
television and reading news in the paper.

1. Product information: paying attention to product information before
purchase of foods and non-foodstuffs; detailed information on
significance of selected product information in the decision to
purchase vegetables, ready-to-serve meals, fruits, meat, fish,
clothing, cosmetics, furniture, televisions, washing and cleansing
agents; additionally desired product information and preference for
Europe-wide standardization.

2. Social security: judgement on the social security system and social
security in the country; preference for government or individual
provision and Europe-wide standardization; adequate welfare for the
unemployed, the old, the sick and the poor in the country; preference
for national or European decisions in questions of establishing minimum
income, unemployment benefit and pensions; attitude to equal treatment
of locals and foreigners in questions of social security; impact from
longer-term illnesss and disabilities; contacts with doctors during the
last month or restrictions due to illness; inclination to visit the
doctor for selected health complaints; utilization of medical
check-ups; appropriateness of a percentage of the costs of selected
medical services for patients; self-treatment and use of medication on
doctor´s orders; general judgement on provision of medical care in the
country; attitude to the public health system and judgement on services
(scale); possession of a private health insurance or supplementary
insurances; attitude to government support for the less well-off;
assumed insufficient knowledge of the less well-off about support
services to which they are entitled; doing without support for fear of
discrimination; family responsibility for prosperity of family members
and government responsibility for elimination of poverty (scale);
judgement on the length of maternity leave and support servicesduring
this time; attitude to particular help for single-parents; child
allowance for everyone or only for parents less financially well-off;
times of unemployment during the last five years; probability of future
unemployment; preference for high unemployment support of short
duration or low unemployment support for a longer time; attitude to the
rights and duties of the unemployed regarding rejecting jobs available
and further education; assumed reduction of the number of unemployed
from reduction of support.

3. Older people and retirement questions: most important problems of
older people; attitude to older people (scale); expected development of
the retirement age and retirement income; increase in the welfare state
with increased support for older people; desire for equal treatment of
men and women regarding retirement age, pension fund contributions and
pensions; assessment of appropriate participation of older people in
politics, in social activities and in the media; attitude to permitted
paid occupation of the retired; perceived discrimination of older
people in professional life; attitude to legal protection against age
discrimination; appropriate consideration of the interests of older
people by public agencies; preferred level of guaranteed minimum income
for older people; preference for care in a home or for people in need
of care to remain in their home environment; looking after members of
the family or friends in need of care; most able care-giver; attitude
to a flexible age limit; appropriate amount of a survivor´s pension;
attitude to rights to a pension for raising children and care of old
family members or those in need of care; attitude to reduction of
pension with work income; self-assessment of level of standard of
living; assessment of general amount of pension; preference for
compulsory, employer-related or private retirement insurance as well as
for compulsory or private nursing care insurance.

Demography: self-classification on a left-right continuum; union
membership; marital status; age at end of education; sex; age; size of
household; number of children in household; possession of durable
economic goods; occupational position; weekly number of working hours;
employment in the civil service or private enterprise (company sector);
person managing household; head of household; occupation of head of
household; self-assessment of social class; residential status; degree
of urbanization; religiousness; monthly household income; city size;
region.

Indices: opinion leadership (cognitive mobility); postmaterialism;
status in profession; media usage.

The following questions were also posed to pensioners: retirement age;
appropriateness of pension.

The following questions were posed correspondingly to non-pensioners:
preferred retirement age; concerns in view of retirement; anticipated
appropriateness of pension payments.

Interviewer rating: presence of other persons during interview;
willingness of respondent to cooperate.

Also encoded were: date of interview; start of interview and length of
interview; identification of interviewer.