TORONTO -- A new national survey suggests that women are significantly more concerned about COVID-19 than men, with only a quarter of young men aged 18-29 reporting that they are extremely concerned about the pandemic.
The online survey, conducted by research firm Abacus Data between March 20 and March 24, asked Canadians questions regarding their concerns and awareness about the coronavirus pandemic.
Although around 75 per cent of respondents said they were following news about the outbreak closely, not everyone reported being overly concerned.
In particular, while almost half of the women polled -- 47 per cent -- said they were extremely concerned, only 32 per cent of men answered the same.
The percentage of men who reported being a little/not at all concerned was a whopping 38 per cent, compared to a quarter of women who selected that answer.
Around 2,300 people aged 18 and older completed the survey. Respondents could select extremely, somewhat, or a little/not at all concerned in their responses.
The divide between the genders became more stark when age was factored in.
With women, although there was some variation between the age groups, a largely similar percentage reported being extremely concerned regardless of age.
But with men, while 41 per cent of men aged 30-44 reported being extremely concerned, only 25 per cent of men aged 18-29 reported the same.
The age group that reported being a little/not at all concerned about the outbreak in the highest number was actually older men.
Out of the male respondents who were 60 years and older, 41 per cent said they were not concerned, compared to 35 per cent of men 18-29. Forty per cent of men aged 45-49 also reported being a little/not at all concerned.
David Coletto, CEO for Abacus Data, said in a bulletin containing the data that the varied reaction among different groups of Canadians was “troubling.”
“Men, especially young men, are less concerned,” he wrote. “They are less likely to be distancing themselves from others, and less likely to think the epidemic will last for longer.”
The survey also looked at Canadians’ reported emotional state while in self-isolation, and found that more than a third of Canadians across all provinces reported feeling lonely at some point in the past seven days. Women, young people aged 18-29, and those who earned less than $35,000 a year reported higher levels of loneliness than other groups.
The province with the greatest amount of people expressing very little concern, according to the survey, was Alberta, with 41 per cent of respondents saying they were a little, or not at all, concerned about the outbreak.
More results from the survey will be released over the next few days, according to their website.
A similar poll conducted by Leger between Friday and Sunday reported that one in five Canadians believe the COVID-19 crisis has been blown at least partly out of proportion.
ABACUS METHODOLOGY
A random sample of panellists was invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/-2.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
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