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Russians reveal their greatest fears — poll

"Baseless fears are called phobias, and, as the survey showed, this phenomenon is quite common among Russians: eight out of ten (78%) reported experiencing at least one phobia from the suggested list (which included 14 of the most common phobias)," the report says

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. The majority (78%) of participants in a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) admitted that they have some sort of phobia, according to the results of the survey published on the center's website on Wednesday.

The VCIOM-Sputnik All-Russia telephone survey was conducted on June 17. The sample size included 1,600 respondents aged 18 years and older, with a maximum margin of error of 95% probability not exceeding 2.5%.

"Baseless fears are called phobias, and, as the survey showed, this phenomenon is quite common among Russians: eight out of ten (78%) reported experiencing at least one phobia from the suggested list (which included 14 of the most common phobias)," the report says.

According to the survey, 30% of the respondents are afraid of heights (acrophobia). Another 28% said they were afraid of snakes (ophidiophobia). A full 24% of respondents said they were afraid of water, especially deep water (aquaphobia). In addition, three groups of respondents, each accounting for 18% of the sample, confessed to dentophobia (fear of dentists), entomophobia (fear of insects), and arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Rounding out the top ten most common phobias are fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) and fear of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses (verminophobia), which 12% of the respondents mentioned.

It is worth noting that the only phobia that men suffer from more often than women is the fear of dentists (21% vs. 16%). The survey highlights that fear of public speaking (glossophobia) and fear of flying on a plane (aerophobia) are less common among respondents - 11% and 10%, respectively.

"Overcoming one's own fears is one of the strategies a person tries to follow throughout his or her life. Obviously, this strategy is formed in the course of socialization and integration into society under the pressure of social stereotypes. In the transition from youth to adulthood (from 35 to 44 years), especially among men, we see a greater number of people who deny that they have phobias (26-27% compared to 16-18% among young people and women). However, as people grow older, they become more honest with themselves, and resistance to phobias slightly weakens," said Stepan Lvov, director of strategic development and deputy chairman of VCIOM scientific council, commenting on the results of the survey.

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