Statistics in Leadership

Magkabiro man sab ta! In this time of a pandemic, we feign a sense of calm. But at the back of our minds are confusing things. We even worry about our well-being and our loved ones. With the increasing number of infected persons, others cannot just sit and do nothing. They do individual things to be of help. Others question the authorities (which, based on a previous discourse, is a normal thing to crop up in crisis situations).

The vulnerable sectors of this crisis usually have mechanisms to do so to maintain equilibrium. Individuals, managers, families and even political leaders must understand the profile of those who are enveloped with worry as the infection escalates.

First is the elderly who is the main concern of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the world’s population is ageing rapidly. Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's older adults is estimated to almost double from about 12% to 22%. Over 20% of adults aged 50 and 60 and above suffer from a mental or neurological disorder. The most common mental and neurological disorders in this age group are dementia and depression, which affect approximately 5% and 7% of the world’s older population, respectively. Anxiety disorders affect 3.8% of the older population.

The term "anxiety disorder" refers to specific psychiatric disorders that involve extreme fear or worry, and includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD),  panic disorder and panic attacks, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, selective mutism, separation anxiety, and specific phobias (adaa.org).

For the vast majority of individuals, these are normal emotional responses that can enhance protective behaviors in the face of a threat (e.g., being more alert to danger, seeking support, limiting activities) and will not turn into long-term mental worries.  Most of the people belonging to 50 and above “do” something so to have coping mechanisms. Some of them are trying to take part in the involvement on the political scene. This is actually their “healthy” option during an unhealthy situation.

Then, we have the women.

In the Philippine culture, we look up at our mothers as the persons who nurture well-being among family members. Naturally, the women are the ones to air their opinions which sometimes mutate to ranting and eventually lead to online conflicts due to their own anxiety. According Jenn Chen (2020), Facebook users are 75% of women and 63% are men. That is the main reason why we encounter women ranting on this site.

There is also a consideration of the age bracket that is using social media sites. Chen continued to venture on the use of Facebook according to age. The breakdown of demographics by age includes: 13–17 years old (51%), 18–24 years old (76%), 25–30 years old (84%), 30-49 years old (79%), 50-64 years old (68%), and 65+ years old (46%). It is in the age profile when we can see the active opinions triggered by a stimulus (the virus), their ways to cope and even their sense of dread.

While many people might say keeping political debate off Facebook is a matter of tact, Hampton (2016) said there is a concern that a person’s fear of offending someone on social media stifles debate. Yet, those who have strong opinions and are doing what we call as having “coping mechanisms” might as well consider the platform for serious debate.

Distance from home can also be considered. There people living abroad and out of town. You can sense that they are also “present” on online discussions. We all need to be recognized, according to exploringyourmind.com. It’s not a matter of pride, selfishness, or immaturity. Human beings, from the earliest moments in their lives, absolutely need respect and affection from everyone around them, which is where we implicitly find that sincere recognition towards us as people. However, respect must not be eradicated from the picture if you just want to be heard and recognized.

Also, these persons might be doing their own way to cope since they are worried about their families in their hometown.

What about educational attainment? Is it correlated to the degree of the opinions posted online? The explanations that underpin this will vary depending on the topic in question, but will include factors such as the effects of enhanced cognitive and general academic skills, learned capacity to empathize with other people’s viewpoints, exposure to liberal values and mixing with a wider variety of groups than might otherwise have been the case (see for example, Feinstein, 2002; Evans, 2002). Factors such as these may help to explain the fact that, for example, graduates are more likely than non-graduates to feel that they understand the political system (Lee and Young, 2013). Finally, higher education is likely also to have an indirect impact upon attitudes, as it will affect other factors that may well shape people’s views.

These implications, however, do not sanitize the negative impact or outcome of personal hurt to the people in question. Considerations on genetics, family orientation, level of meta-cognition, empathy and the values to attain the greater good is yet to be studied.

In sum, the demographic profiles of people in the family and an area as to age, sex, distance from home, economic status and educational background must be considered by the families and political leaders to attain implications which will lead them to scientific recommendations out from the threat given by the stimulus (the virus).

Meanwhile, as our medical team finds a cure, we cling to the universal value of respect.