Euro-Barometer 34.0: Perceptions of the European Community, and Employment Patterns and Child Rearing, October-November 1990

This round of Eurobarometer surveys queried respondents on standard Eurobarometer measures, such as how satisfied they were with their present life, whether they attempted to persuade others close to them to share their views on subjects they held strong opinions about, whether they discussed political matters, what their country's goals should be for the next ten to fifteen years, and how they viewed the need for societal change. Additional questions focused on the respondents' knowledge of and opinions on the European Community (EC), including how well-informed they felt about the EC, whether their country had benefited from being an EC member, and the extent of their personal interest in EC matters. Another major focus of the surveys was on how current social and cultural conditions affected the lives of individuals and households. Respondents were asked to assess general economic conditions and the current and future financial situations of their own households, to describe personal interests and the types of voluntary associations to which they belonged, and to comment on the prospective establishment of a Single European Market in 1992, the possible formation of an EC police force for combating terrorism and drug trafficking, which areas of policy should be decided by national governments and which by the EC, the rights of noncitizens in EC countries, the role of the EC in cultural matters, and the position that the EC should assume in reacting to upheavals in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Persian Gulf. Other questions focused on major problems facing European youth, the qualities parents should encourage in their children, knowledge and use of different languages in the home, and the importance of foreign languages in general. A separate section of the survey probed individual employment patterns, asking respondents to describe their employment histories, how changes in their family lives affected their working lives, times of unemployment, reasons for starting work again after a period of unemployment other than money, and occupation. This section also probed the role of child-rearing in family employment patterns by asking respondents to describe their experiences with child care, the distribution of household duties within the family, and their attitudes toward raising children in general. An additional set of questions constituted a test for validation of the proposed variables for harmonization of demographics in the Eurobarometer. This section was a joint effort of the Commission of the EC and INRA (International Research Associates, EUROPE), under the supervision of ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research). The Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) conducted a survey in Norway independent from, but parallel to, Euro-Barometer 34.0, which was incorporated into this data collection by ICPSR. Many of the questions in Eurobarometer 34.0 were also asked in Norway, though some questions were slightly modified. Respondents in Norway were also queried about additional issues, including their knowledge of the negotiations on European economic cooperation, their opinions about possible Norwegian membership in the EC, and their views concerning the advantages and disadvantages of Norwegian membership in the EC. As in previous Eurobarometers, questions on political party preference queried respondents about which party they felt closest to, how they voted in their country's last general election, and how they would vote if a general election were held tomorrow. Additional information was gathered on family income, number of people residing in the home, size of locality, home ownership, trade union membership, region of residence, occupation of the head of household, and the respondent's age, sex, education, religion, religiosity, subjective social class standing, socio-professional status, and left-right political self-placement.