FEELINGS OF TRUST
The survey included a number of questions relating to trust. These questions sought an opinion as to whether most people felt that police, one's doctor and hospital could be generally trusted or be trusted to do 'the right thing' for the individual. A question on generalised trust was also asked. Using this latter measure, just over half the population (54% or 9.1 million) strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that most people could be trusted. Almost a third (29% or 4.8 million) somewhat disagreed or strongly disagreed with this proposition.
Volunteers, regardless of the type of organisation volunteered for, are generally more trusting in the community with 62% (3.8 million) of all volunteers strongly or somewhat agreeing that people could be trusted. This compared with 49% (5.3 million) of people who did not volunteer who claimed these levels of trust. There was not enough evidence to identify any difference in the levels of trust reported by both volunteers for sport and physical recreation organisations and by volunteers for other organisations only (64% and 61% respectively).
6.5 SPORT AND PHYSICAL RECREATION AND OTHER VOLUNTEERS, By level of generalised trust
6.6 Sport and Physical Recreation and Other Volunteers, By level of generalised trust |
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| | Sport & physical recreation organisation(s) only | Sport & physical recreation and other organisation(s) | Total sport & physical recreation organisation(s) | Other organisation(s) only | Total volunteers | Not a volunteer | Total persons aged 18 years & over |
|
Volunteers ('000) | | | | | | | |
| Strongly agree | *88.5 | 157.3 | 245.8 | 485.5 | 731.3 | 998.0 | 1 729.3 |
| Somewhat agree | 554.6 | 658.4 | 1 213.0 | 1 838.9 | 3 052.0 | 4 297.9 | 7 349.8 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | *166.4 | 171.0 | 337.4 | 504.7 | 842.1 | 2 081.2 | 2 923.3 |
| Somewhat disagree | 174.2 | 185.4 | 359.6 | 743.2 | 1 102.8 | 2 203.9 | 3 306.7 |
| Strongly disagree | *70.4 | *41.5 | 111.9 | 244.2 | 356.1 | 1 122.9 | 1 479.0 |
| Total | 1 054.2 | 1 213.6 | 2 267.7 | 3 816.5 | 6 084.2 | 10 703.9 | 16 788.2 |
Volunteers (%) | | | | | | | |
| Strongly agree | 8.4 | 13.0 | 10.8 | 12.7 | 12.0 | 9.3 | 10.3 |
| Somewhat agree | 52.6 | 54.3 | 53.5 | 48.2 | 50.2 | 40.2 | 43.8 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | *15.8 | 14.1 | 14.9 | 13.2 | 13.8 | 19.4 | 17.4 |
| Somewhat disagree | 16.5 | 15.3 | 15.9 | 19.5 | 18.1 | 20.6 | 19.7 |
| Strongly disagree | *6.7 | *3.4 | 4.9 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 10.5 | 8.8 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
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* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution |