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October
11, 2001
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BETA RESEARCH CORPORATION
SYOSSET, NEW YORK
Contact:
Rebecca McPheters
President, McPheters & Company
212-744-5085; E-mail: rmcpheters@mcpheters.com
Jerome Kossoff
CEO, Beta Research Corporation
516-935-3800; E-mail: jerome@nybeta.com
McPheters & Company/Beta
Research Study Finds Americans Spend More Time With Families & Friends;
Religion and Patriotism Take on Renewed Importance.
New York, October 11,
2001:
According to a new study released
today, Americans have profoundly altered the way they live in the month
since the attacks on America. They are spending more time at home and
with their families. The role of religion and patriotism in their lives
has increased substantially, and they are willing to make substantial
compromises in terms of both privacy and convenience to live in greater
safety. The McPheters & Company/Beta Research study Changing American
Lives shows that the events surrounding September 11th have not only had
a profound impact on how Americans live their lives, but on their priorities
and concerns, as well as how they relate to the media. The first wave
of the study was conducted via telephone among a random and nationally
representative sample of 200 adults from September 29th to October 6th.
The next wave will go into the field on November 1st.
Among the major changes occurring in the aftermath of September 11th are:
Reaching Out to Others
- Americans are reaching out to each other
by spending more time with family and with friends. About a third say
they are spending more time with their families, and 13% say they are
spending more time with friends.
- More than 1 in 5 say they are spending
more time at home, and 46% are calling friends and family more.
Spirituality
& Patriotism
- There has been a return to spirituality,
with 25% increasing the time they spend in a house of worship and 39%
spending more time in prayer.
- Over half (57%) say that they have become
more patriotic.
Priorities
- Safety takes precedence over privacy concerns
and convenience. Three out of four Americans are willing to tolerate
some loss of privacy to make this country safe. Eight out of 10 welcome
tighter security in public places. Nine out of 10 think it is a good
idea to have Federal marshals on airline flights.
Attitudes Towards Work
- The importance of work in their lives
is undiminished. The amount of time they spend working has not changed,
nor have their attitudes towards their job or the company for which
they work.
Change in Leisure Activities
- They are going to movies less (18%), eating
out less (28%), and shopping less (22%), though they believe these changes
are temporary.
Change in Media Habits and Attitudes
- News has taken on increased prominence,
with more time spent watching television news, and listening to news
on the radio. More than * of Americans say they are watching more news
programs on television and more than half say they listen to more news
on the radio. Other forms of programming are being consumed at substantially
reduced rates.
- Almost half (46%) have changed the channels
they watch.
- They are spending more time reading newspapers
(50%) and magazines (30%).
- They are spending more time online (20%),
but less time in online chat rooms.
- Almost half (48%) think the news media
in this country provides the public with too much information.
Percentages are
accurate at the 95% confidence level within ± 6.9%.
Methodology:
Changing
American Lives will be regularly fielded via telephone using
a random-digit-dial technique among successive, nationally projectable samples
to provide trendable data on changes in lifestyle, fears and concerns, media
preferences, and preferences regarding programming and content.
Changing
American Lives is a joint venture of McPheters & Company,
Inc. and Beta Research. McPheters & Company is a Manhattan-based consulting
firm providing strategic planning and market research to the media community.
Beta Research is a full-service research company headquartered in Syosset,
NY.
For more information call Rebecca
McPheters at 212-744-5085 or Jerry Kossoff at 516-935-3800.
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