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PubMed2001

Worry propensity and the perception of risk.

This paper examines how the tendency to worry impacts risk estimation for an upcoming, stressful event. Students in a statistics class completed worry, anxiety, and subjective risk questionnaires on the first day of class. State-anxiety and subjective risk questionnaires were again administered immediately before their first examination. Subjects showed significant increases in anxiety and the perceived risk of poor academic performance in the class. Risk domains unrelated to the examination (e.g., physical threats) remained stable across measurement periods. Regression analysis was used to determine the independent contribution of worry propensity in predicting elevations in the perceived risk of poor academic performance. The analysis showed that worry propensity predicted subjective risk bias, even after variance attributable to current mood and trait anxiety had been removed. Results from a second series of regression equations suggested subjective risk biases partially mediated the relationship between worry propensity and current mood. These results are used to argue that the elevations in state anxiety observed when worriers are confronted with a stressful event are largely a function of risk inflation.

Achievement↗

PubMed2005

Perception of tap water risks and quality: a structural equation model approach.

The present study aims to test a model of tap water risk and quality perception. A questionnaire was designed and applied to a convenience sample of 499 people in Portugal. The model includes aesthetic variables (colour, odour, and flavour), contextual indicators and risk perception. Other variables were also considered, including external information, trust in water companies, familiarity with tap water, and past water-related health problems. A behavioural outcome--drinking tap water--was also studied. Due to multivariate non-normality (Mardia's Coefficient (G2,P) = 460.3), the AGLS estimator was used for the structural equation model (SEM). A triangulation approach with multivariate regression analysis was used to explain the use of tap water to drink and to propose a more holistic model that could not be tested using SEM. Results show that perceived water quality is largely influenced by flavour. Other factors, such as perceived risk and contextual indicators, also have a role but their relevance is relatively weak. On the other hand, risk perception seems to be mainly a result of external information, past health problems, and water colour. Finally, the use of tap water to drink at home can be moderately explained and depends mostly on the ability to use alternatives (i.e. bottled water), tap water taste, and perceived risk.

Humans↗

PubMed2005

Keeping it together: stigma, response, and perception of risk in relationships between drug injectors and crack smokers, and other community residents.

Sexual relations between drug injectors (IDUs) and crack smokers (CS), and non-drug users are a major means of HIV spread to the broader population. However there is little literature describing community processes that regulate sexual and social partnerships among these groups. We describe these relationships in Bushwick, a low-income, mainly Latino neighbourhood in Brooklyn, NY. In this community, IDU and CS are heavily stigmatized, both by non-users and by some users. Known IDU/CS may find it harder to start and maintain social and sexual relationships, and to get jobs or support. Partially as a result of this stigma, IDU/CS attempt to 'keep it together' and hide either their drug use or its extent from other residents. Nevertheless, other residents believe, sometimes falsely, that they can distinguish users from nonusers. We describe some potential negative consequences of these beliefs and interactions, including their effects on risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Identification of social cognitive variables as predictors of safer sex behavior and intent in heterosexual college students.

The purpose of this study was to identify social cognitive factors significantly associated with consistent condom use and safer sex intentions for heterosexual college students. No or new relationship involvement, positive attitudes toward condoms, higher HIV risk perceptions, being male, and being younger were associated with more consistent condom use. Higher HIV risk perceptions, positive attitudes toward condoms, safer sex negotiation, no or newer relationship involvement, lower classification, and higher safer sex perceptions of self-efficacy were associated with increased intent to engage in safer sex. HIV knowledge was not associated with safer sex intent or condom use. HIV intervention must go beyond presenting information. Intervention must incorporate social cognitive factors associated with safer sex intent and practice into their design, targeting groups and building safer sex skills.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2005

Smoking, health, risk, and perception.

We provide a description of health-related incentives faced by a rational smoker by considering the role of perception in both immediate quality-of-life effects of smoking and future risk of mortality. A person who adapts psychologically to a lowered health state, smokes more early in life and shifts demands for health investments and health-complementary activities later in life. He also smokes more in total. Someone aware of the full mortality consequences of smoking, smokes less and demands less medical care than someone who believes that these effects are highly reversible. The impacts of new information on mortality risk are most valuable early in life. Lastly, someone endowed with a longer life expectancy smokes more in the first part of life but conditional on access to medical care.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

Pattern of responses to HIV transmission questions: rethinking HIV knowledge and its relevance to AIDS prejudice.

This paper intends to investigate the connection between HIV transmission knowledge and prejudicial attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS (PWAs), with an emphasis on exploring the pattern of cognitive profile in response to knowledge questions. Data for the present study were derived from the 'Health Attitudes and Health Seeking Behavior Study', a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample, aged 20 to 70, from April to May 1997 in Taiwan. A total of 2,471 respondents who had heard of AIDS and knew that it was infectious were included in the analysis. Based on answers to four transmission-route items (blood transfusion, mother-foetus, sexual contacts, needle sharing) and two casual-contact items (shaking hands and sharing utensil), a variable 'pattern of knowledge performance' was constructed, by which the respondents were clustered into five knowledge groups. Bivariate and multivariate analyses illustrated the greater explanatory power of pattern of knowledge performance rather than additive scoring of knowledge items to PWAs' prejudice. Moreover, it was the responses to casual-contact rather than transmission-route questions that made a greater contribution to PWAs' prejudice. Special attention is given to the possible perceptual undertaking inherent in the five types of knowledge group. To implement effective AIDS prevention campaigns and interventions, the design for increasing the risk perception of the correct HIV transmission routes should differ from that of reducing the risk perception of the casually transmitted routes.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Improvement in AIDS knowledge, perceptions and risk behaviours over a short period in a rural community of Senegal.

The objective of this paper is to assess knowledge, perceptions and behavioural changes in response to AIDS in a rural community in the south of Senegal, comparing 2 cross-sectional surveys using standardized questionnaires and performed in 1990-1992 and 1994. An AIDS-related knowledge score was built using 4 questions about routes of HIV transmission, ranging from 0 to 4. The score increased between the 2 surveys from 1.6 to 2.1 for men (P = 0.006) and from 0.8 to 2.6 for women (P < 10(-4)). The proportion of those who responded 'I don't know' to the 4 questions dealing with routes of AIDS transmission decreased from 24% to 14% on the average for men and from 66% to 20% on the average for women. The proportion of men who declared casual sex partners in the past 12 months decreased from 39% to 21% (P = 0.01). However, the proportion remained stable for women (from 15% to 18%). These results show that despite a relatively low level of HIV infection (0.8% of all adults), AIDS-related knowledge increased and at-risk behaviour decreased in a rural area of west Africa.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2005

Maternal efforts to prevent type 1 diabetes in at-risk children.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess maternal diabetes prevention efforts aimed at children identified as at risk through newborn genetic screening. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 192 mothers of children identified as at risk for type 1 diabetes through newborn genetic screening were administered a structured interview 3.6 +/- 0.8 years after risk notification. The interview assessed possible diabetes prevention behaviors across six domains: health surveillance, diet, physical activity, illness prevention, medications, and stress reduction. A mother's cognitive (diabetes risk perception and perceived control), affective (anxiety), and coping responses to the child's at-risk status were assessed. RESULTS: A total of 67% of mothers reported one or more diabetes prevention behaviors. Monitoring behaviors (e.g., watching for signs of diabetes and checking blood glucose) were the most common, reported in 59%, followed by modifications in the child's diet in 34% and physical activity in 14%. Potentially harmful prevention behaviors (e.g., limiting contact with other children, delaying immunizations, and giving medications including insulin) were rare. Mothers who engaged in diabetes prevention behaviors reported higher diabetes risk perception, greater anxiety, and more use of certain coping styles. Infants of these mothers were more likely to have a first-degree relative with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of known methods of preventing type 1 diabetes, most mothers of at-risk children report diabetes prevention behaviors. Such behaviors must be more carefully assessed to ensure accurate interpretation of data obtained from natural history studies and prevention trials.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Lay advice on alcohol and tobacco during pregnancy.

Little is known about lay advice on prenatal alcohol and cigarette use and how this advice may complement or counteract advice from health professionals. In this study we examine the advice-giving role of female friends and relatives ("confidantes"). Survey data were collected from 105 low-income pregnant women about prenatal alcohol and cigarette use and confidante advice about these behaviors. Focus groups with 9 confidantes of pregnant smokers examined the advice they offered about substance use, their perceptions of these behaviors, and their roles as advice-givers. The rate of prenatal drinking was low among pregnant smokers, consistent with confidantes' high risk perceptions and zero tolerance for drinking, but low risk perceptions and high tolerance for smoking. Confidantes described barriers to providing advice about smoking cessation. Because confidantes perceived their role to be distinct from, and in some ways more influential than, that of doctors their advice should be considered in the development of prenatal substance use interventions.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Models of public perceptions about environmental risk].

A survey on public perceptions about environmental risk was carried out in the industrial area of Portoscuso. The aim was to obtain information on how citizens correlate industrial risk exposure to adverse health effects, in order to plan effective risk communication strategies. Perceptions were found to vary among the population: some citizens do not believe any hazards from industrial pollution exist, others consider adverse health effects as an inevitable consequence of industrial pollution, still others believe in the role of individual factors. Effective risk communication strategies should increase the population's knowledge about environmental risks, so as to enable individuals to achieve a balance between normal concern for possible health hazards and excessive alarm, and to encourage public awareness and participation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Lack of acknowledgment of fruit and vegetable recommendations among nonadherent individuals: associations with information processing and cancer cognitions.

Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is regarded as an important behavioral risk factor for multiple types of cancer. Nevertheless, adherence with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) guidelines to eat between five and nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day is remarkably low. The current study explored the extent to which nonadherent respondents in a national survey (N = 5,625) listed fruit and vegetable consumption as a method by which to decrease their own or others' cancer risk. We sought to determine whether respondents who listed fruit and vegetable consumption as a method by which to decrease their own or others' cancer risk (hereafter referred to as "listers") differed from respondents who did not list fruit and vegetable consumption as a method by which to decrease their own or others' cancer risk (hereafter referred to as) "nonlisters" on measures of information processing and cancer cognitions. Nonlisters were more likely than listers to seek out cancer information but less likely to trust the information. The two groups did not differ in the amount of attention they paid to such information. Listers had lower absolute risk perceptions than nonlisters, but listers and nonlisters did not differ on measures of relative breast and colon cancer risk perceptions and worry for cancer in general. Female listers did perceive themselves to be at less relative risk for breast cancer than nonlisters. Respondents were more likely to list fruit and vegetable consumption as a cancer-risk reduction strategy for others than for themselves, suggesting a "double standard" in their beliefs. These findings suggest that communications designed to promote fruit and vegetable consumption need to account for biases in how nonadherent individuals respond to these communications.

Cognition↗

PubMed1996

Fishing in a polluted estuary: fishing behavior, fish consumption, and potential risk.

People make subjective judgments about hazards relying on what they know and feel. These risk perceptions may be based on accurate or inaccurate information and are often optimistically biased. The existence of uncertainties in the evaluation of many environmental hazards effects how risks are perceived. This paper examines fish consumption and risk perception of urban fishermen in the New York/New Jersey estuary, in areas where there were consumption advisories. We interviewed 318 fishermen and crabbers in the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, and New Jersey shore. Fish were eaten an average of at least four times per month in all regions, but fishermen in the Arthur Kill fished most frequently, averaging over eight times per month. Although 60% of fishermen and crabbers in the Arthur Kill reported hearing warnings about consuming fish caught in these waters, 70% of fishermen and 76% of crabbers said they are their catch. Significantly fewer fishermen in the Bay and Shore regions had heard warnings (28% and 30%, respectively), and more reported consuming their catch (88% and 82%, respectively). In all regions, most people thought that the fish were safe to eat, many believing they were "fresher" than store bought fish. Thus, most people ignored the consumption advisories in effect for these waters. Some of these people are consuming high quantities of fish and crabs, and thus are exposed to potentially deleterious levels of contaminants. In general, people failed to consider the possibility of chronic effects and did not perceive that this enjoyable, familiar pastime could be hazardous. Further, fishermen generally had great confidence in their own knowledge, which proved to be inaccurate in many cases, and often expressed distrust in the information source (government). Clearly, simply issuing consumption advisories is insufficient to promote risk-reducing behavior.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Perceived risks of conventional and organic produce: pesticides, pathogens, and natural toxins.

Public risk perceptions and demand for safer food are important factors shaping agricultural production practices in the United States. Despite documented food safety concerns, little attempt has been made to elicit consumers' subjective risk judgments for a range of food safety hazards or to identify factors most predictive of perceived food safety risks. In this study, over 700 conventional and organic fresh produce buyers in the Boston area were surveyed for their perceived food safety risks. Survey results showed that consumers perceived relatively high risks associated with the consumption and production of conventionally grown produce compared with other public health hazards. For example, conventional and organic food buyers estimated the median annual fatality rate due to pesticide residues on conventionally grown food to be about 50 per million and 200 per million, respectively, which is similar in magnitude to the annual mortality risk from motor vehicle accidents in the United States. Over 90% of survey respondents also perceived a reduction in pesticide residue risk associated with substituting organically grown produce for conventionally grown produce, and nearly 50% perceived a risk reduction due to natural toxins and microbial pathogens. Multiple regression analyses indicate that only a few factors are consistently predictive of higher risk perceptions, including feelings of distrust toward regulatory agencies and the safety of the food supply. A variety of factors were found to be significant predictors of specific categories of food hazards, suggesting that consumers may view food safety risks as dissimilar from one another. Based on study findings, it is recommended that future agricultural policies and risk communication efforts utilize a comparative risk approach that targets a range of food safety hazards.

Boston↗

PubMed2002

Knowledge and perception of risk for HIV and condom use among male injecting drug users in Cebu City, Philippines.

Injecting drug users (IDU) represent a small fraction of the HIV and AIDS cases in the Philippines. To determine if these people are engaging in behaviors that put them at risk for HIV, interviews were conducted with 360 male IDUs in Cebu City, Philippines, from 1997 to 1999, as part of a national surveillance system. The interviews assessed knowledge about HIV transmission, sources of information about HIV/AIDS, perceived risks of contracting HIV, needle-sharing practices, condom use, self-reported signs and symptoms of STDs and number of sex partners. Although most of the men were able to recognize behaviors accurately that put them at risk for HIV, more than two-thirds claimed that they shared needles and almost two-thirds of those who were sexually active claimed that they never used condoms. Intervention strategies must be developed for this population if the nation is to avoid the dramatic increase in HIV infection among IDUs that has been witnessed in neighboring Southeast Asian nations such as Malaysia and Vietnam.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Magic Johnson and public attitudes toward AIDS: a review of empirical findings.

The public announcement of HIV seropositivity and early professional retirement of basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson acted as a naturalistic experimental manipulation of media representations of persons living with HIV infection. This article reviews empirical studies of psychological and behavioral changes that occurred following the announcement. Several studies reported substantial increases in public interest in HIV/AIDS-related information and public awareness of AIDS, as well as changes in high-risk behaviors. Increases in calls to AIDS hotlines and increased rates of HIV antibody testing were also observed. However, most effects were short-lived, subsiding within three weeks of the announcement, and few changes in AIDS-related knowledge or personal risk perceptions were reported. Patterns of results indicated different levels of impact among high- and low-risk groups and among ethnic groups. Findings across studies are consistent with previous research on media effects on public attitudes and theories of risk perception.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2006

Risk communication in completed series of breast cancer genetic counseling visits.

PURPOSE: There is no consensus on how best to communicate risk in breast cancer genetic counseling. We studied risk communication in completed series of counseling visits and assessed associations with counselees' postcounseling risk perception and satisfaction. METHODS: Pre- and postcounseling questionnaires and videorecordings of all visits were available for 51 affected and unaffected women from families with no known BRCA1/2 mutation, who fulfilled criteria for DNA testing. We developed a checklist for assessing risk communication and counselors' behaviors. RESULTS: General risks were mainly communicated in initial visits, while counselee-specific risks were discussed mainly in concluding visits. The risks discussed most often were conveyed only numerically or qualitatively, and most were only stated positively or negatively. Counselors regularly helped counselees to understand the information, but seldom built on counselees' pre-existing perspective. Counselees' breast cancer risk perception after counseling was unrelated to whether this risk had been explicitly stated. The number of general risks discussed was negatively associated with counselees' satisfaction about counseling. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that counselors' authority prevails over mutuality with individual counselees, in their communication about risks.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Body mass index and body weight perception as risk factors for internalizing and externalizing problem behavior among adolescents.

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI), body weight perception (BWP), and indicators of internalizing and externalizing distress and social, attention and thought problems in a large representative sample of Dutch youth. METHODS: A total of 1826 pupils in the eighth grade of primary education and 5730 students in the first four years of secondary education gave their height and weight to obtain an estimate of their BMI. They reported their evaluation of their body weight and completed Achenbach's Youth Self-Report (YSR) (1991), which assesses eight types of problem behavior. Data were analyzed in a multivariate framework with BMI and BWP as predictors and the YSR scores on different kinds of problem behavior as dependent variables, controlling for background characteristics. RESULTS: Both BMI and BWP are associated with internalizing and externalizing problem behavior, and social, attention and thought problems. Multivariate tests show that BWP is more closely linked to problem behavior than BMI. Adolescents who were either underweight or overweight but considered themselves in good shape had no more problems than the group with normal BMI and BWP 'good'. The perception of being 'too thin' and particularly the perception of being 'too heavy' best predict problem behavior in both male and female adolescents. Overweight youngsters with an adequate perception of their weight have less somatic complaints than their normal-weight peers who perceive themselves as too heavy, but they show higher withdrawnness, social problems, and anxiety/depression. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent girls are more dissatisfied with their weight than boys; however, the relationship between weight perception and problem behavior is the same for both genders.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Chikotsa--secrets, silence, and hiding: social risk and reproductive vulnerability in central Mozambique.

In this article, I examine pregnancy narratives and patterns of reproductive health seeking among women of fertile age in central Mozambique. I map the interplay between gendered economic marginalization, maternal risk perceptions, and pregnancy management strategies. By interpreting my data in light of Shona illness theories, I illuminate the ways that embodied experiences of reproductive vulnerability, risk perceptions, and social inequalities are linked: women attribute the most serious maternal complications to human- or spirit-induced reproductive threats of witchcraft and sorcery. This construction of reproductive vulnerability as social threats related to material and social competition significantly influences prenatal health seeking. Data reveal the structural and cognitive gap between biomedical constructions of risk and lay social threat perceptions. Plural health care systems are strategically utilized by women seeking to minimize both social and biological harm. On-the-ground ethnography shows that maternal health initiatives must take this plurality into full and accommodative account to achieve viable improvements in reproductive care and outcomes.

Adolescent↗