Bullets

• The recession has prompted 37% of women to cut their hair in order to make it less expensive to maintain.
• The average American is online 9.3% of the time they are watching primetime television.
• Women (26.3%) most often say that having children in the car is the greatest distraction while driving, compared to men (18.3%) who say that road rage distracts them the most.
• Women (58%) are more likely than men (48%) to think they look younger than they are.
• Women become grandparents for the first time at an average age of 50, and men do so at an average age of 54. Most grandparents (54%) are under the age of 65.
• Some 56% of adult Americans have accessed the internet by wireless means, such as using a laptop, mobile device, game console, or MP3 player. The most prevalent way people get online using a wireless network is with a laptop computer; 39% of adults have done this.
• One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smartphone to access the internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking, up from 24% in December 2007. On the typical day, 19% of Americans use the internet on a mobile device, up substantially from 11% in December 2007. That’s a growth of 73% in the 16 month interval between surveys.
• Males who are the primary grocery shoppers in their family, accounted for 38% of grocery dollars spent in 2008, up 4% since 2006.
• Women made up 23% of Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders in 2009, up from 18% in 2004.
• One-half of Americans (50%) have provided food or money to a non-relative to help them during the current economic recession. Some 17% have allowed a relative to move into their home.
• Most Americans (92%) say that a home is a good long-term investment, even in the current economic downturn, while 49% say equity investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds) are good investment choices.
• Americans are concerned about paying for retirement including 69% of 18-29-year-olds, 80% of 30-49-year-olds and 50% of those age 50 and older.
• American women spend an average of $15.95 on shaving products each month. The average woman will shave 7,718 times over their lifetime, spending more than $10,000 on related products.
• White young adults aged 20-24 (61%) are more likely to approve of living together before marriage, compared to their counterparts who are Asian (58%), Hispanic (58%) and Black (45%).
• Some 31% of Americans age 55 and older say that trying to win the lottery is a good strategy for building wealth.
• The primary reasons Internet users follow a brand on Twitter include receiving exclusive deals or offers (43.5%); being a current customer (23.5%); finding interesting or entertaining content (22.7%); knowing others who are fans of the brand (6.3%); having access to service, support or product news (3.5%); and other (0.4%).
• Americans say that advertising they find most helpful for bargain hunting includes newspaper/magazine advertisements (23%), online ads (18%), direct mail and catalogs (12%), TV commercials (11%), and radio ads (2%). The other 34% say that the type of advertisement makes no difference.
• There are 8.9 million Urban Adult Contemporary radio listeners with an average age of 40, compared to an average age of 29 for the 8.6 million R&B/Urban radio listeners.
• Women (57%) are more likely than men (51%) to belong to a social networking site.
• Some 91% of Americans age 12 and older listen to the radio, this percentage has held steady over the last ten years. However, the amount of listening time has shrunk 18% since the Spring of 2007 to 15 hours and 15 minutes each week.
• Americans share online information with others by emailing them a link (78%); sharing it via social media (22%), sharing it offline via phone, text message or conversation (13%); posting it to their blog (4%); and other (17%).
• Most shoppers (59%) say they feel “great” when making purchases with coupons, and 29% would like to be known as the coupon queen or king for their skills at saving money.
• More than one-third of American adults (33%) report spending less time reading newspapers, while 9% say they are spending more time. Some 30% are spending less time with magazines, while 10% say they are spending more time.
• Americans eat 550 million McDonald’s Big Macs each year.
• Eighty percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their healthcare provider, but only 53% are satisfied with their out-of-pocket expenses.
• Most Americans (70%) think that healthy foods are increasingly more difficult to afford.
• Ninety percent of Americans diagnosed with heart disease see their circumstances as a wake up call to live a healthier life.
• Some 68% of Americans who experienced acute pain, muscle strains or sprains say their pain was worsened due to stress and working harder during the recession.
• Women (62%) are almost twice as likely as men (37%) to say they wash their hands 10 or more times per day.
• Charitable causes drawing the most support from women are medical research & diseases (55%) and child welfare (52%).
• People who saw and used calorie information at fast-food hamburger restaurants placed orders for an average of 152 calories than those who chose to ignore the information.
• More than one-quarter of Americans (26%) say that a family member lost their health insurance during the past year, and 28% say they or a family member has had to go without medical treatment at some time in their lives.
• Seven in 10 American households (70%) pay their bills online each month, up from 64% in 2008. Some 60% say they bank online every week, a 12% increase since 2008.
• Almost three-quarters of employers (72%) have gone through a restructuring or made layoffs since the start of the recession.
• The percentage of workers living paycheck to paycheck has increased during the recession from 43% in 2007, up to 49% in 2008, and stood at 61% in 2009.
• More than three-quarters of Americans say the government should develop alternative energy sources. If they had to choose one to support, 43% would select solar, 17% wind, 12% natural gas, and 10% nuclear.
• Seventy five percent of Americans plan to work as long as possible rather than retiring; 39% say they will do so because they enjoy what they do, compared with 33% who believe they will need the money.
• Almost three in 10 workers (29%) say that a co-worker has claimed responsibility for an idea of theirs. Typical responses include doing nothing (51%), speaking up to let others know it was their idea (26%), telling the manager (13%), and confronting the person who stole the idea (13%). Another 4% didn’t know or didn’t report an answer.
• Nearly one in five workers (18%) report the most fear-inducing part of their job is their workload, followed by performance reviews (9%) and tight deadlines (9%).
• The majority of workers (82%) say they would be ready to begin a job search if they lost their jobs the next day, but 44% have not updated their resumes in over a year.