A new survey has shown that Australians don't necessarily worry about issues that are most likely to have lasting effects in their lives. Sexual abuse and road safety were the foremost in citizen's mind. For instance, in terms of road safety, a large percentage was worried about driving under the influence of drugs.

The top five concerns were the aforementioned driving behavior, followed by child abuse, sexual assault or rape, smoking tobacco and exceeding the speed limit by as little as 5 kilometers. The perceived concern was found to be far greater than the actual reality of the situation. For instance, in the case of sexual assault, 57% from over 2,500 people noted it was foremost in their anxieties. In reality, only 19% of the participants were directly affected by the given condition.

Luke Smillie, a Melbourne University senior psychology lecturer, said it was normal in people to be often worried about things that were not immediately connected to their daily routine. "In general, the sorts of things that are more likely to rouse people's fears and anxieties are things where you can pinpoint the bad guy, there's somebody trying to do me harm, an agent or some purposeful being, things like assault and rape," Smillie said.

What scared the survey participants were circumstances in which they had no control over. For instance, quitting smoking or losing weight fared very low in people's fears as it is something that can be seen as controllable. However an assault or a car being driven by a person who was high implied a situation where they had no control over what could happen.

The survey also showed that the top fears were compounded by impending threats or circumstances that could attract widespread public attention through new media. Some concerns that were not addressed in the general study but were surprising were smaller issues that affect most citizens like related issues to money.

Aside from personal finance, the survey also did not include divisive topics such as same sex marriage, treatment of asylum seekers and climate change.