Survey: Men wash hands less than women

By Anita Manning, USA TODAY
Next time a gentleman offers his hand, keep this in mind: One-third of men don't wash their hands after using the restroom.

Not only that, if he tells you he washed his hands, he may not be telling the truth.

This is revealed in results of the latest Hand Washing Survey, released Monday at a scientific meeting in Chicago by the American Society for Microbiology and the Soap and Detergent Association. The survey found that although 89% of men claim in a telephone poll to wash their hands every time they use a public bathroom, only 66% were seen doing so.

The survey found that women outwash men, though they also overstate their cleanliness: While 96% say they always wash their hands in a public restroom, 88% of women were actually seen doing so.

The research, conducted Aug. 17-25, is based on reports from investigators with Harris Interactive, who were deployed to hang around public bathrooms, trying to look inconspicuous while covertly counting how many people washed up.

In all, 6,076 people were observed, 3,065 men and 3,011 women, in bathrooms at six sites: Turner Field in Atlanta; the Museum of Science and Industry and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago; Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal in New York, and the Ferry Terminal Farmers Market in San Francisco.

Harris also conducted 1,001 telephone interviews. Among findings:

•Overall, 92% of people report always washing their hands after using a public bathroom, but only 77% were seen to do so. A comparable study in 2005 found the same number reported washing up, but more — 83% — who were seen doing it.

•Hygienically speaking, men are doing even worse now than in 2005, when 75% of men washed their hands. Women have slipped slightly, from 90% in 2005.

•The biggest drop in cleanliness for men was seen in San Francisco, where 85% washed up in 2005, but only 63% did this year, a drop of 22 percentage points. For women, the largest drop was at the Shedd Aquarium, where there was a 12-percentage-point drop from 93% in 2005 to 81%.

•The gender gap was widest at the Braves' baseball game, where 95% of women were seen to wash their hands, compared with 57% of men.

The results are disappointing, says Judy Daly, director of the Microbiology Laboratories at the Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. "In light of all the public health issues out there, this is such a simple intervention."

Not only do many people skip washing their hands in bathrooms, she says, but the phone survey found only 25% of people say they wash their hands after handling money, and 34% after coughing or sneezing.

Dirty hands spread germs, she says. "You think, 'What can I do to not get sick?' Fifteen seconds of vigorous soap-and-water rubbing, and you have done yourself a major favor."

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