Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.03.1983, Page 248

If the normal pattern concerning the problems of elderly is over-estimation
table 7 shows the pattern concerning the young pecple to be under-estimation in
mny cases. This is true e.g. concerning the fear of crime, where 22 per cent
of the youngest respondents report themselves to have this problem, while only
ten per cent of all respondents believe young pecple to have this problem. The
situation is similar also concerning the problem with loneliness. It is 23 per
cent of the youngest respondents who report themselves to have this problem,
while only ten per cent among the oldest respondents believe the young pecple
to have problems of lack of friends and with feelings of unsufficiency.
With this back-ground it sounds fair to state that it is in particular the old
respondents who to the largest degree under-estimte the young pecples' prob-
lems concerning fear of crime, loneliness, lack of friends, feelings of un-
sufficiency. With some few exceptions pecple in general over-estimate the prob-
lems for elderly, while they under-estimate the problems for young pecple.
Table. 8: Rank ondeA ofi pAoblemac.c.oAdlng to *elh aepoxt and otheAA'
belleí-i.
Rank order according to:
Elderlys' self report Beliefs among all respondents Beliefs among young pecple
1. Crime 1. Loneliness 1. Loneliness
2. Bad health 2. Crime 2. Feelings of uselessness
3. Loneliness 3. Feelings of use- lessness 3. Bad health
4. Bad education 4. Bad health 4. Crime
5. Feelings of use- 5. Lack of friends 5. Lack of friends
lessness
When studying the rank order of problems according to the self report in
conparison with the rank order based on beliefs among respondents in general
and among young respondents it can be concluded that the different rank orders
do not coincide. While the self reports from the elderly put the fear of crime
in the first rank order, the rank order of young pecples' beliefs of elderlys'
problems puts fear of crime as number four. Young people instead put the profci-
lems with loneliness as problem number one.
Analyzed, but not shcwn here, is also the correspondences or differences between
young pecple's, grcwn-ups' and middle-aged pecple's problem rank orders, and the
beliefs about these rank orders. In these cases it can be shown that people in
common have a much more realistic perception of these problem rank orders„
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