Authors

• International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
• Melin, Harri (University of Tampere. School of Social Sciences and Humanities)

Keywords

appointments, families, family members, friends, neighbours, social environment, social interaction, social networks, social status, trust

Abstract

The study charted the social networks of Finnish people, namely family and neighbour relations and friendships. It was examined which occupations people in the respondents' social networks represented, and the respondents were asked questions about income disparity as well as who should provide geriatric and healthcare services. Next, the respondents were presented with a set of situations that they could face in their lives and asked who they could seek for help in these situations.

After this, the survey enquired whether the respondents felt that people could be trusted or if they would try to take advantage of them. The respondents' trust in courts of law and large privately owned Finnish enterprises was also surveyed. The respondents were also asked if members of their family attempted to exert influence on their life choices, and whether family, relatives or friends tended to make demands on the respondent.

The next set of questions charted how many people the respondents interacted with on a daily basis and how many of these interactions happened face to face. Finally, the extent to which the respondents kept in touch with family, relatives and friends was examined, and it was queried if they experienced a significant amount of hardship in their life and whether they felt unhappy or depressed.

Background variables included, among others, gender, year of birth, marital status, education level, economic activity and occupation, trade union membership, socioeconomic class, the respondent's gross income and household gross income, household composition, and region (NUTS3).