Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478015
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWS Situations vacant WANTED Housekeeper We are looking for a Housekeeper. Persons must have previous experience, be responsible, enthusiastic and willing to carry out their role in a professional and polite manner. Send email to: sebastien.biax@gmail.com KURT SANSONE HAVING a sense of belonging to the community where you live is likely to translate into more friends and acquaintances, a study on loneliness shows. The research shows that 79% of Maltese people aged 11 and over feel they have enough friends and acquaintances but just over 9% (equivalent to 34,000 people) find their circle of friends and acquaintances too limited. Carried out by the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, the research shows that the feeling of not having enough friends or ac- quaintances is more commonly reported by people who do not feel a strong sense of belonging in their neighbourhood. Only 5.3% of those with a very strong sense of belonging and 6.3% of those with a fairly strong sense of belonging, feel that they do not have enough friends and acquaintances. But the figures are more than double among those who expe- rience less belonging to their neighbourhood. Not having enough friends and acquaintances was report- ed by 13% of those who con- sider their neighbourhood be- longing to be 'not very strong', and the figure was 18% of those with a 'not at all strong' sense of neighbourhood belonging. These figures are a detail in the second survey on loneliness conducted by the faculty. The first survey was done in 2019. Researchers Marilyn Clark, Andrew Azzopardi, Jamie Bon- nici and Annabel Cuff collect- ed the data in July and focussed on Maltese residents aged 11 and over, excluding those who live in institutions. Foreigners were not polled. Asked about their ability to cope with stressful situations or unpleasant emotions, 91% felt they had very good, good, or fair coping skills. But 7%, an average of 27,000 people, rated their coping ability as 'not so good' and 2% as 'poor'. Other key findings show that just over a tenth of respondents do not feel positive about their life while two out of 10 (21%) experience a 'general sense of emptiness'. Almost 10% of respondents revealed that they 'do not feel there are plenty of people they can lean on' when they experi- ence problems as opposed to 78%, who feel they have a ro- bust support network on which to rely on. As for friends, 14% of re- spondents reported that they do not have a close friend, something that is more com- mon among those aged over 51. However, 78% of people re- ported having a close friend. In their remarks, the research- ers said the data from the sur- vey provided a clear indicator of "a serious problem to con- tend with". "We urgently need tangible actions to respond to this growing and complex phe- nomenon [of loneliness]," they said. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Sense of belonging to neighbourhood has a bearing on circle of friends The feeling of not having enough friends or acquaintances is more commonly reported by people who do not feel a strong sense of belonging in their neighbourhood Asked about their ability to cope with stressful situations or unpleasant emotions, 91% felt they had very good, good, or fair coping skills. But 7%, an average of 27,000 people, rated their coping ability as 'not so good' and 2% as 'poor' PHOTO SUELLEN SIQUEIRA/UNSPLASH Not having enough friends and acquaintances was reported by 13% of those who consider their neighbourhood belonging to be 'not very strong', and the figure was 18% of those with a 'not at all strong' sense of neighbourhood belonging Just over a tenth of respondents do not feel positive about their life while two out of 10 (21%) experience a 'general sense of emptiness'