Poverty was the greatest fear in Glamour magazine’s 2012 Guy Survey

In January 2012 Glamour magazine surveyed 1000 men. One of the many questions they asked was:

“What would you say was your greatest fear?”

Answers are shown above in a bar chart. (Click for a larger clearer version). Poverty (36%) came first, followed by death (23%), a tie between failing at work and never finding love (13%), speaking in public (10%), and commitment (5%). Public speaking came fifth. Over twice as many guys feared death as feared public speaking, which contradicts the constantly repeated cliche derived from the 1977 Book of Lists.

Another question they asked was:

“What do you think about most in a single day?”

Answers are shown above in another bar chart. Sex (38%) came first, followed by money (31%), work (14%), my appearance (8%), food (5%) and my sports team (4%). Most of their other survey questions were about sex & love (which are the subtitle for that magazine).

Their 2011 Guy Survey only had one fears question about Which scares you more? Two choices were the threat of tsunamis, tornadoes, or terrorism (61%) or the threat of going bald (39%).