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Environmental risk perception among race and ethnic groups in the United States
Abstract
We examine varying levels of perceived environmental risks among nine U.S. race and ethnic group categories using the 2010 General Social Survey. Three interrelated questions motivate our analysis. First, how does the environmental risk perception of air pollution, water pollution, agricultural chemicals, climate change and nuclear power generation vary among specific categories of race and ethnicity? Second, to what degree are higher levels of perceived risk among immigrant-origin groups subject to change as a result of cultural assimilation over generations? And third, to what degree are race and ethnic differences in environmental risk perception a reflection of other possibly more significant factors such as education, income, gender and conservative political views? Though we find some evidence for attitude assimilation among generations of Mexican-origin people, the dominant pattern is greater perceived risks among non-whites than whites across generations in the U.S. Additionally, not only did race and ethnic groups show greater concern for the threats posed by climate change and nuclear power generation than whites, they also expressed more concern about these two topics than they did for more localized issues such as air pollution emanating from industry and transportation. Despite our statistical controls for socioeconomic status, race and ethnic categories remained strong independent predictors of perceived environmental threats.
... Location, climate, and socioeconomic factors may influence people's perceptions of air pollution [23]. For example, it appears that among people of various races, views persist over generations regarding environmental values [24]. Risk perceptions regarding air pollution also affect the image and the development of tourism destinations [25]. ...
... Beyond its detrimental effects on health, air pollution has several facets. Air pollution is affecting peoples' perceptions and behaviors, which vary across different demographic groups [24,30]. Notably, age and dwelling place are emerging as major factors in shaping how individuals perceive air pollution [15,23]. ...
... One-way ANOVA analysis using the age cluster as the independent variable was applied. According the literature, there are different perceptions regarding air pollution among different human groups [15,24,25]: there are strong differences in people's beliefs and how they experience air pollution based on their age [23]. ...
Air pollution in urban environments is a complex, multidimensional issue that significantly impacts public health and people’s well-being. Previous studies have tended to focus on general public awareness in metropolitan urban areas. The novelty of this study lies in examining whether perceptions regarding air pollution and the urban environment differ based on specific demographic characteristics such as age and dwelling place in a provincial city of Greece. Thus, a quantitative cross-sectional research approach was employed, resulting in the collection of 659 valid questionnaires from residents in the wider area of Volos city. To analyze the data, one-way ANOVA was applied to reveal differences in perceptions of air pollution and its effects on urban well-being. The results indicate that perceptions vary by age, particularly concerning the effects of air pollution on the natural environment. Participants acknowledge that air pollution levels differ across cities of various sizes and recognize the adverse effects of pollution on the overall well-being of urban areas. Furthermore, our analysis reveals significant differences in perceptions between urban and rural residents. Particularly, people living in the city tend to report higher awareness of air pollution levels compared to those in the countryside, highlighting the need for targeted interventions tailored to specific communities. Overall, this study underscores the importance of understanding demographic influences on perceptions of air quality, which can inform policymaking and public health initiatives aimed at improving air quality and mitigating health risks in urban settings.
... Additionally, numerous air-pollution-specific studies have found that generally nonwhite ethnic groups are more concerned about air pollution (Johnson, 2011;Macias, 2016). The study design can contribute to this phenomenon. ...
... The study design can contribute to this phenomenon. A study found that when questions are posed in terms of environmental risks, people of color demonstrate higher levels of environmental concern than white respondents, with especially African American participants generally expressing higher concern for the environment than white participants (Macias, 2016). Furthermore, African Americans, Mexican, and Latin American immigrants all indicated perceiving greater risks from vehicular emissions than native-born white respondents (Macias, 2016). ...
... A study found that when questions are posed in terms of environmental risks, people of color demonstrate higher levels of environmental concern than white respondents, with especially African American participants generally expressing higher concern for the environment than white participants (Macias, 2016). Furthermore, African Americans, Mexican, and Latin American immigrants all indicated perceiving greater risks from vehicular emissions than native-born white respondents (Macias, 2016). Previous studies found that African American and Hispanic population subgroups face greater exposure to poor air quality (Mott, 1995). ...
COVID‐19 lockdowns caused significant improvements in air quality in US states where traffic emissions are the main pollution source. In this study, we investigate the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID‐19‐related lockdowns in states which experienced the greatest changes in air quality, especially among different demographic populations and those with contraindications to health. We administered a 47‐question survey and collected 1,000 valid responses in these cities. Our results show that 74% of respondents within our survey sample had some level of concern regarding air quality. In agreement with previous literature, perceptions of air quality were not significantly correlated with measured air quality criteria but rather seemed to be influenced by other factors. Respondents in Los Angeles were the most concerned about air quality followed by Miami, San Francisco, and New York City. However, those from Chicago and Tampa Bay expressed the least amount of concern about air quality. Age, education, and ethnicity were all factors affecting peoples' concerns about air quality. Respiratory conditions, living in proximity to industrial areas, and financial impacts from the COVID‐19 lockdowns influenced concerns about air quality. About 40% of the survey sample reported greater concern for air quality during the pandemic, while approximately 50% stated that the lockdown didn’t affect their perception. Furthermore, respondents seemed concerned about air quality in general, not a specific pollutant, and are willing to adopt additional measures and more stringent policies to improve air quality in all investigated cities.
... Previous research has shown that effective risk communication starts with a good understanding of the public's risk perception (Bruhn, 2005;Frewer, 2004;Miles & Frewer, 2001). Public perception of risk depends on various demographic factors, including age, nationality, education level, and culture (Frewer et al., 2016;Macias, 2016). Effective risk communication also uses widely understood terms to describe how risks are evaluated and methods to minimize these risks (Bruhn, 2005;Frewer, 2004;Miles & Frewer, 2001). ...
... We did not infer demographic factors, such as age, gender, nationality, education level, and race/ethnicity, and only relied on available geolocations. Models that estimate demographics show large variances and often need recalibration, but they have been employed in nutrition and ecological studies (Frewer et al., 2016;Macias, 2016). Finally, we performed the topic analysis only in a static setting. ...
Synthetic pesticides are important agricultural tools that increase crop yield and help feed the world's growing population. These products are also highly regulated to balance benefits and potential environmental and human risks. Public perception of pesticide use, safety, and regulation is an important topic necessitating discussion across a variety of stakeholders from lay consumers to regulatory agencies since attitudes toward this subject could differ markedly. Individuals and organizations can perceive the same message(s) about pesticides differently due to prior differences in technical knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and individual or group circumstances. Social media platforms, like Twitter, include both individuals and organizations and function as a townhall where each group promotes their topics of interest, shares their perspectives, and engages in both well-informed and mis-informed discussions. We analyzed public Twitter posts about pesticides by user group, time, and location to understand their communication behaviors, including their sentiments and discussion topics using machine learning-based text analysis methods. We extracted tweets related to pesticides between 2013 and 2021 based on relevant keywords developed through a 'snowball' sampling process. Each tweet was grouped into individual vs. organizational groups, then further categorized into media, government, industry, academia, and three types of non-governmental organizations. We compared topic distributions within and between those groups using topic modeling, and then applied sentiment analysis to understand the public's attitudes toward pesticide safety and regulation. Individual accounts expressed concerns about health and environmental risks, while industry and government accounts focused on agricultural usage and regulations. Public perceptions are heavily skewed towards negative sentiments, although this varies geographically. Our findings can help managers and decision-makers understand public sentiments, priorities, and perceptions, and provide insights into public discourse on pesticides.
... Meanwhile, an individual's PET is related to the nature of environmental events [75]. Compared with social and environmental events, consumers pay more attention to environmental issues that are related to their own interests [76,77]. When individuals believe that a threat is not personal but a broader social problem, individuals will expect the public to share the responsibility and thus have little incentive to take personal actions to reduce the risk [78], so they lack the corresponding motivation to take action. ...
... As for public environmental problems such as global warming and ecological diversity loss, individuals may take corresponding countermeasures out of environmental awareness and altruism [82]. This result is in line with previous studies [68,76]. ...
The rapid development of the Internet as an information medium has provided new opportunities for promoting green consumption. Therefore, a study on the theoretical mechanism is helpful to make better use of the Internet media to promote green consumption and close consumers’ green consumption intention–behavior gap. In this study, data from 419 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed through PLS-SEM within the framework of the theory of planned behavior. The results show that there are two pathways of Internet media promoting green consumption, namely the moderating effect and the mediating effect. First, through the moderating effect, Internet use can promote the conversion of intention to behavior and perceived behavioral control to behavior, thus closing the intention–behavior gap. Second, through the mediating effect, Internet use promotes green consumption behavior through the mediator of personal perceived environmental threats. The research indicates that the potential of Internet information media should be fully explored in promoting green consumption, disseminating environmental knowledge, reporting environmental issues, and guiding the transformation of individual green consumption intention into behavior.
... In this context, the study by Kim and Kang (2019) suggested that people share a pattern of concern about environmental pollution based on personal characteristics. Correlations between sociodemographic characteristics and environmental perception, in mining areas or not, have already been tested and found in international studies (Van Liere and Dunlap, 1980;Shen and Saijo, 2008;Shi and He, 2012;Shi and He, 2012;Macias, 2015;Moniz et al., 2016;Antabe et al., 2017;Sana et al., 2017;Madrigano et al., 2018;Yu et al., 2018, Gallastegi et al., 2019Kim and Kang, 2019). However, in Brazil, a handful of researches have been conducted on this theme (Villar et al., 2008;Gonzaga et al., 2015) and they are superficial, especially in the context of mining in the Amazon. ...
... Often, older and older residents are the ones who most demand better environmental conditions and are more sensitive to the effects of pollution (Shi and He, 2012;Madrigano et al., 2018). Women and more educated individuals in terms of education are more consistently portrayed as those who are more concerned with the environment or are more sensitive to degraded natural landscapes (Macias, 2015;Madrigano et al., 2018;Kim and Kang, 2019;Dunlap et al., 2001;Hunter et al., 2010;Chen et al., 2012). ...
Research involving environmental perception is effective to understand the interrelationships between man and the environment. This study evaluated the influence of seven sociodemographic factors of 154 residents of Ourém, Eastern Amazon, Brazil, on their perception of impacts caused by aggregate mining. Structured questionnaires, informal conversations and non-participant observation were used to collect information. The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data was performed through non-parametric statistics, adopting significance at p < 0.05, and by the content analysis technique, respectively. It was observed that the population is dissatisfied with the impacts caused by mining companies in the municipality. The residents considered the impacts to the landscape as the most serious, followed by impacts to the air, water and health, while the economic and social advantages were perceived at the lower intensity level. Older people, individuals from rural areas, and people with no schooling were the ones who most perceived social benefits. The perception of impacts to the air, health and landscape was greater among older residents. Residents living far from mines pointed to a higher level of environmental satisfaction and noticed noise pollution and water disturbances with greater intensity. It is believed, therefore, that it is necessary that the government and the companies take the heterogeneity of attributes that constitute the topofilia of the subjects and the dynamics of the ecosystems into account to establish and to implement policies of conservation and progress based on sustainable development.
... This calls into question whether the persistence of these negative perceptions is due to actual risks or a lack of adequate communication about risk mitigation strategies. Despite these negative views, some research highlights nuclear energy's positive contributions to combating climate change and mitigating environmental harm [24,41,56]. These studies suggest that the sustainability of nuclear energy may be enhanced through its role in reducing carbon emissions. ...
Sustainability has gained paramount importance in contemporary scientific inquiry, particularly in relation to its profound societal implications. Within this context, the energy sector emerges as a pivotal focus area. Nuclear energy, notably, presents itself as a promising avenue within the spectrum of clean and green energy sources, but this claim is not widely accepted. A comprehensive exploration of discourses surrounding the sustainability of nuclear energy remains absent in scientific production. This paper aims to address this gap by identifying and categorizing main themes within discourses on the sustainability of nuclear energy through the scientific production which are peer review articles (papers) published in journals indexed in WOS and Scopus database. A semi-systematic literature review approach was employed, analysing 59 peer-reviewed journal articles in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist. Through thematic analysis five major themes and thirteen sub-themes were identified. These themes included nuclear perception (assessment, implication, and expectation), nuclear energy policy (national, international, regional), nuclear energy acceptance (drivers and barriers), controversial issues (usefulness and feasibility), and sustainability assessment (benefits, opportunities, and safety). The findings underscore the critical importance for future policy and research endeavours to integrate considerations of nuclear energy's sustainability. Moreover, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the discourses surrounding nuclear energy sustainability, offering valuable insights for regulators, policymakers, academics, and practitioners alike. Ultimately, this study contributes to a more informed dialogue surrounding nuclear energy's role in the pursuit of sustainable energy solutions.
... The 'fear of disaster' scale of our study revealed a result similar to those of other studies [78][79][80]: It showed that women are more afraid of natural hazards than men (Table 3). In contrast, no significant differences in risk perception appeared between different educational backgrounds and ages. ...
The city of Yangon, Myanmar, is located in a disaster-prone area of Southeast Asia. To reduce the risk of natural hazards, relevant frameworks of the UN, ASEAN and Myanmar’s national and local levels focus on making citizens more resilient by improving their ability to anticipate, prevent, absorb and transform risks of disasters. Those documents’ core elements are knowledge provision, actionable advice on natural hazards and capacity building of citizens. Achieving the related goals requires holistic institutional risk and crisis communication (RCC) strategies, which implies clear procedures of internal and external communication and appropriate risk information monitoring. To improve the institutional RCC, current procedures need to be understood. This study mapped Yangon’s institutional RCC until the end of January 2021 and detected good practices and gaps therein. With a mixed-method approach, the institutional RCC was assessed in 2019/2020. The results disclosed a substantial framework of bidirectional institutional RCC in Yangon. Thus, to ensure the rapid dissemination of important information, communication redundancies must be installed. The results furthermore showed that a strong collaboration between institutional disaster risk management and specialized civil society organizations enhances civil disaster preparedness. To make people more resilient to disasters, mass and social media platforms offer opportunities that should be included into holistic RCC programs.
... In particular, communities of color and lower income communities are disproportionately harmed by climate change impacts (e.g., extreme heat) and environmental hazards (e.g., air and water pollution, toxic waste) [31][32][33] . According to the environmental deprivation hypothesis 34 , higher levels of environmental concern among communities of color and low-income communities reflect greater exposure to environmental harms 35,36 and social inequities, such as systemic racism, that contribute to these elevated environmental risks [37][38][39] . Indeed, research has found that people of color (Hispanics/Latinos in particular) and lowerincome individuals are among the groups with the highest levels of environmental concern in the U.S. 40 . ...
... Evidence suggests that non-whites perceive higher health risks associated with EDCs. This aligns with previous research showing that race remains a strong independent predictor of perceived risk, even when controlling for socioeconomic status (Macias, 2016). ...
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are linked to rising health issues such as infertility, childhood obesity, and asthma. While some research exists on health risk perceptions of EDCs, a comprehensive understanding across different populations and contexts is needed. We performed a systematic literature review, examining 45 articles published between 1985 and 2023, focusing on both the risk perception of EDCs as a whole as well as individual EDCs found in the environment (e.g., pesticides, bisphenol A, and phthalates). We identified four major categories of factors influencing EDC risk perception: sociodemographic factors (with age, gender, race, and education as significant determinants), family-related factors (highlighting increased concerns in households with children), cognitive factors (indicating that increased EDC knowledge generally led to increased risk perception), and psychosocial factors (with trust in institutions, worldviews, and health-related concerns as primary determinants). This review highlights the complex nature of EDC risk perception, shaped by socio-demographic, family, cognitive, and psychosocial factors, essential for policymakers in crafting educational and communication strategies. Future research should expand to cover more EDCs, use representative samples, and explore the influence of psychosocial factors on risk perception more deeply.
... Nevertheless, the existing evidence suggests that non-whites perceive higher health risks associated with EDCs. This is in accordance with previous literature showing that even when controlling for socioeconomic status, race remains a strong independent predictor of perceived risk (Macias, 2016). ...
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are linked to rising health issues likeinfertility and testicular cancer. Despite the recognized risks, little is known about howpeople perceive the health risks associated with EDCs. Here we provide a comprehensiveoverview of research on perceived health risks of EDCs and identify key factors influencingthese perceptions. We performed a systematic literature review, examining 45 articlespublished between 1985 and 2023, focusing on both the risk perception of EDCs as awhole as well as individual EDCs found in the environment (e.g., pesticides, bisphenol A,and phthalates). We identified four major categories of factors influencing EDC riskperception: sociodemographic factors (with age, gender, race, and education as significantdeterminants), family-related factors (highlighting increased concerns in households withchildren), cognitive factors (indicating that increased EDC knowledge generally led toincreased risk perception), and psychosocial factors (with trust in institutions, worldviews,and health-related concerns as primary determinants). This review highlights the complexnature of EDC risk perception, shaped by sociodemographic, family, cognitive, andpsychosocial factors, essential for policymakers in crafting educational and communicationstrategies. Future research should expand to cover more EDCs, use representativesamples, and explore the influence of psychosocial factors on risk perception more deeply.
... Many studies have assessed farmer perceptions of climate change and the factors affecting these perceptions in different ethnical and cultural contexts (Banerjee and Rupsha, 2015;Chunxiao et al., 2019;Lazo et al., 2000;Pham et al., 2019;Wang and Feng, 2023;Williamson et al., 2005). For example, several studies found that non-White minorities (Blacks and Latinos) in the United States show higher levels of risk perception and support for national and international climate and energy policies than Whites (Macias, 2016;Pearson et al., 2017;Speiser and Krygsman, 2014;Whittaker et al., 2005). One study from Australia (Hansen et al., 2014) indicated that immigrants who wear thicker and darker clothing due to cultural and religious factors or prefer heated food, have a significant perception of extreme heat and have lower adaptability to it. ...
Understanding divergent perceptions of ethnic groups to climate change in mountainous regions home to multi-ethnic cultures and the factors influencing these perceptions is crucial for policymakers to predict the trending impacts of climate change and make long-term decisions. Based on the case of Southwest China, 1216 households were interviewed by questionnaire surveys to gain insight into the perceptions of local people on the dynamic evolution characteristics of climate events in the uplands of Yunnan, China, which is an area home to rich ethnic diversity, and also to determine the factors that influence these perceptions. Results indicated that climate events have now become important events for farmers’ livelihoods, ranking only after family diseases and livestock diseases. Drought, long-term drought, and erratic rainfall are the three kinds of climatic events with the most significant increase in frequency and severity in mountainous areas. Farmers’ perceptions on whether drought, long-term drought, and erratic rainfall occurred 10 years ago as well as changes in frequency and severity are significantly influenced by characteristics of respondents, ethnic culture, geographical environment of farmer residences, farmland characteristics, and sources of livelihood. Ultimately, taking ethnic differences into consideration for long-term planning will be an important part of the local response to climate change in the future.
... Traditionally, environmental justice would focus on the negative implications of energy and non-energy generating or waste-related activities for local populations (Tayarani et al, 2016). US-based research found that there was a high propensity of local, national and supranational organisations to locate these infrastructures within ethnic minority or socially deprived communities (Macias, 2016). Geographical literature in this area concentrates on revealing the place-specific nature of injustices, or explores the spatial tactics used by opposing activists (Houston, 2013). ...
... Traditionally, environmental justice would focus on the negative implications of energy and non-energy generating or waste-related activities for local populations (Tayarani et al, 2016). US-based research found that there was a high propensity of local, national and supranational organisations to locate these infrastructures within ethnic minority or socially deprived communities (Macias, 2016). Geographical literature in this area concentrates on revealing the place-specific nature of injustices, or explores the spatial tactics used by opposing activists (Houston, 2013). ...
... Also, research findings show that people endorsing biospheric values (which reflect a concern for the quality of nature and the environment for its own sake) [47] would be more aware of the environmental crisis, compared with people endorsing egoistic or hedonistic values [21,[48][49][50]. Besides, environmental risk perception has been found to be related to socio-demographic characteristics such as political affiliation [40,41], place of residence [51], education [52,53], or socio-economic background [53][54][55]. Finally, besides cultural factors, cognitive appraisal of environmental information appears also affected by emotions: how people feel about climate change would, indeed, affect how environmental risks are perceived [56]. ...
A successful transition to a lower-emission society may require major changes in the patterns of individual behaviours. Yet, whilst awareness and concern about climate change have increased in recent years among the global population, global greenhouse gases emissions have not ceased to rise. This paper discusses potential reasons underlying the gap between individual knowledge of climate change and the actions implemented to contain greenhouse gas emissions. To investigate this phenomenon, we look at the scientific literature exploring the factors influencing pro-environmental behaviour. First, we highlight how an individual’s environmental knowledge is not only approximate but also biased by cognitive, affective, and cultural factors, influencing their appraisal of climate information and their motivation to act. Second, we discuss three major models of pro-environmental behaviour, such as the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Norm-Activation Model (NAM), and the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN), to highlight their failure to account for automatic cognitive and affective factors influencing an individual’s ability to implement pro-environmental intentions. Then, we discuss the Comprehensive-Action-Determination Model of pro-environmental behaviour (CADM), and its efforts to overcome the limits of the previous models. Finally, we examine the dispositional traits associated with pro-environmental engagement to highlight how the relationship between dispositions and pro-environmental behaviour performance appears related to self-regulation processes, supported by executive functioning; increased self-regulation would enable alignment of pro-environmental intentions and behaviours, and anticipation of the long-term consequences of present behaviours. We conclude by calling for more research to be carried out on the effect of enhanced self-regulation, and of self-regulation training, on individual reactions to the climate crisis.
... Previous studies have identified age, educational attainment, and gender as factors influencing perceived risk (Bickerstaff, 2004;Casey & Scott, 2006;Flynn et al., 1994;Haltinner & Sarathchandra, 2021). Non-White individuals often perceive greater risk from environmental exposures (Johnson, 2002;Macias, 2016). Income was found to significantly predict perceived risk of lead exposure in one study such that lower income is associated with increased concern (Harclerode et al., 2016), but the relationship is different in other studies of environmental concern (e.g., Shen & Saijo, 2008). ...
Lead exposure is a persistent environmental hazard that poses risks to human health. But motivating protective action is challenging with this low visibility hazard whose health effects are often subtle and chronic. Higher risk perception is generally associated with taking protective measures, so public health efforts prioritize risk messaging. Yet, little is known about perceptions of lead exposure risk among the U.S. public. Using cross‐sectional data from a national survey of 1035 U.S. residents, we measured the role of trust in government management of lead and subjective knowledge about lead as predictors of perceived risk of lead exposure, controlling for demographic and environmental factors. We also assessed if subjective knowledge moderated the relationship between trust and perceived risk. Our results reveal positive relationships between trust in government management of lead, subjective knowledge about lead, and risk perception, which we attribute in part to the important role government agencies play in secondary prevention, or communicating the risks of environmental lead exposure. We also found that younger people and people living in a house built before lead paint regulations passed in 1978 perceived higher lead risks. Our findings suggest that general communication about lead risks should aim to increase people's subjective knowledge in a consistent and balanced way that improves trust in government messengers.
... Research on risk perception depends on various local/geographic and personal factors, including: the location of the individual (Bera & Danek, 2018); housing characteristics (Hung, 2009;Thistlethwaite et al, 2018); the consequences of the risk manifestation (Stojanov et al.;; the impacts of the crisis (Thistlethwaite et al, 2018); the socioeconomic and demographic profile (such as age, education, gender, income) (Balog-Way et al.., 2020); direct experience (Terpstra, 2009;Bera & Danek, 2018); race (Macias, 2016); the historical-cultural context (Armas et al., 2015); and the political and a https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8681-2349 b https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8665-4459 ...
... In fact, risk perception depends on several local/geographical and personal factors, including the individual's physical location (Bera & Danek, 2018;Bustillos Ardaya et al., 2007;Kellens et al., 2011), residence characteristics (Koks et al., 2015;Thistlethwaite et al., 2018), size consequences (Siegrist & Gutscher, 2008;Stojanov et al., 2015), range of impacts (Bera & Danek, 2018;Miceli et al., 2008;Thistlethwaite et al., 2018), socio-economic and demographic profiles (such as age, education, gender, number of children, income) (Balog-Way et al., 2020;Bera & Danek, 2018;Thistlethwaite et al., 2018;Yang et al., 2017), direct experience (Bera & Danek, 2018), race (Macias, 2016), historical-cultural context (Armas et al., 2015;Działek et al., 2013), level of literacy (Kusumi et al., 2017), and political and religious context (Bichard & Kazmierczak, 2012;Weber, 2010). Other authors also consider that risk perception and risk behaviour often result from people's gut feelings (Wagar & Dixon, 2006), prior experiences (Traczyk & Zaleskiewicz, 2015), or expected emotions (Mellers et al., 1999). ...
In this study the spatial perceptions of students about the likelihood of natural and environmental risks were examined, considering both mainland Portugal and island of Madeira. It intends to understand how students perceived the risks, taking into account the causal attributions, future tendency, and the support from public entities, as well as the willingness of attitudinal changes with respect to mitigating and reducing risks. The results suggest that students have a relatively low perception of analysed risks, considering the risk of forest fires, heatwaves, air and water pollution, and floods the most likely to occur, mainly as a consequence of climate change intensification. Gender proved to be the variable with the greatest influence on perception, particularly in terms of risk occurrence and personal perception of risk. These results could be important for the improvement of strategies and resources to be applied in the educational context in order to reduce disaster risk and strengthen the resilience of the community at large.
... In addition, the study by Adeola (2004) found that racial groups demonstrated divergent environmentalism and risk-avoiding attitude on several factors. Macias (2016) showed nonwhites in the US demonstrated a dominant pattern in perceived risks and threats posed by environmental issues. The author found significant statistical measure for race, ethnic groups, and socio-economic status as strong predictors of perceived risks. ...
The emergence of shale gas development in the global energy landscape depicts a critical energy innovation of the 21st century. Shale gas development has significant benefits when developed sustainably; however, the shale technology is known to induce unintended impacts on the local environment. Much study has focused on explaining responses at the local and national level; however, little research has explored the role of risk perception and sociocultural factors in shaping expert and public perception of shale gas development. This study used a mixed-method approach (utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods) to explore the underlying factors shaping expert and public perception about shale gas development and to gain a better understanding of the reasons for support and opposition to shale gas development in South Africa. The study used data collected from experts spread in different areas of the country and public participants from the four cultural groups across the Beaufort West area of the Central Karoo. The qualitative data revealed that experts were showed an ambivalent response to risk and significant support of the shale technology. The quantitative data also showed mixed results across the cultural groups with variation to risk and benefits. The White and Indian respondents opposed shale gas development on the account of significant risk on the environment. The Black and Coloured respondents showed strong support of shale gas development based on economic benefits. The study revealed that positive evaluation of shale gas development evoked support of the shale technology while a negative perception indicated opposition to the shale technology. Key reasons given by experts in favour of shale gas development are economic growth, energy independence and the assumption that shale gas could be the optimal ‘bridge fuel’ from coal to renewable energy. The study revealed that expert assessment of the risks of shale gas development is lower than the White and Indian groups. Other predictors of perception include level of institutional trust, knowledge, and access to relevant information. The observed differences and similarities between experts and the social groups are due to variations in costs and benefits perception. The findings are examined in relation to the extant literature on perceptions. The study provides an account of attitudes towards shale gas development in the Karoo to fill the gaps in the existing literature and examines potential policy implications arising from these outcomes.
... 22 An example of class-based oppression in epidemiological research can be seen in studies conducted on environmental health disparities. [23][24][25][26] Low-income and working-class communities, often with a high proportion of racial and ethnic minorities, are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards such as air pollution, contaminated water, and toxic waste. 27 These communities are often located near industrial facilities, landfills, or major highways, which contribute to poor air quality and other health risks. ...
Decolonizing epidemiological research is a crucial endeavor. Historically, colonial and imperialistic ideologies have pervaded epidemiology, leading to an emphasis on Western perspectives and the neglect of indigenous and other marginalized communities' needs and experiences. To effectively address health disparities and promote justice and equality, acknowledging and addressing these power imbalances are imperative. In this article, I highlight the need of decolonizing epidemiological research and make recommendations. These include increasing the representation of researchers from underrepresented communities, ensuring that epidemiological research is contextually relevant and responsive to the experiences of these communities, and collaborating with policymakers and advocacy groups to inform policies and practices that benefit all populations. Moreover, I underscore the importance of recognizing and valuing the knowledge and skills of marginalized populations, and integrating traditional knowledge—the distinct, culturally specific understanding unique to a particular group—into research efforts. I also emphasize the need of capacity building and equitable research collaborations and authorship as well as epidemiological journal editorship. Decolonizing epidemiology research is a continual process that requires continuing discourse, collaboration, and education.
... Not surprisingly then, women and racial and ethnic minorities also accurately perceive greater risks from climate change and tend to be more concerned about it (Dietz & Whitley, 2018b;Flynn et al., 1994;Leiserowitz, 2006;Macias, 2016). Despite these reports, the climate concerns of vulnerable groups may be underestimated due to cultural stereotypes policymakers and the general public have about environmentalists. ...
Although developed countries have been historically responsible for causing climate change, developing countries are more vulnerable to its current and future effects and being asked to commit to levels of climate action that exceed their responsibilities and capabilities. Climate change exacerbates existing social inequities by disproportionately impacting certain groups (including women, racial minorities, and the poor) more than others. Powerful institutions such as the government and the academy have a responsibility to alter this course and advance climate justice but are themselves marred by inequities. Given these disparities, the question of how the burden of climate change mitigation should be justly distributed amongst stakeholders is of paramount importance to international and domestic climate negotiations. Insights from the social identity and group processes literatures explain how experiences of inequity along geographical and sociodemographic dimensions generate identities and groups. As group members, people are sensitive to threats to the ingroup, experience collective emotions on behalf of the group, and differentially apply morality to in‐ versus outgroups. Members are also incentivized to protect and further their group's interests relative to outgroups. Social psychology offers some promising avenues of research for potential solutions to mitigate the multilevel intergroup conflict posing as a barrier to climate justice. Climate governance recommendations to policymakers and negotiators include incentivizing integrative solutions and fully considering the justice implications of climate policy. Climate scholars are encouraged to pursue interdisciplinary collaborations, improve diversity within the academy and in research samples, and prioritize climate adaptation in developing contexts.
This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives
Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Climate Change and Global Justice
... This research also found a strong predictability of risk perception on both policy support and green consumption. Risk perception has been examined with proenvironmental behaviors in general (Bradley et al. 2020;Der-Karabetian et al. 1996;Macias 2015) and climate change attitude and actions specifically (Choon et al. 2019;You and Ju 2018). Moreover, this study contributes to a limited but growing body of research that examines the effects of risk perception on behavioral changes to curb plastic waste pollution (Menzel et al. 2021;Yoon et al. 2021). ...
Purpose
This study investigates the influence of individual- and country-level factors on citizen members’ attitude and actions regarding plastic waste. At the individual level, it assesses the influence of the diversity of environmental news use from traditional media, online social networks, and other internet sources on the public’s support for policy and green behaviors related to plastic waste.
Design/methodology/approach
We utilized secondary survey data collected from 27 European countries by Eurobarometer.
Results
The two-level analysis show that several individual factors including gender, age, political ideology, risk perception, and most importantly diversity of sources in environmental news use , from all three types of media sources, was positively associated with participants’ policy support and green behaviors related to plastic waste. This research also found the influence of several country-level variables on green behaviors toward plastic waste.
Implications
When assessing support for plastic waste control, various factors at both levels (i.e., country and individual) need to be considered to mobilize the public. Findings suggest extending the theoretical model of social cognitive theory to include more country-level factors especially in cross-national comparison.
Originality/value
This study shed lights on understanding factors that could influence public policy support and green behaviors with regards to plastic waste.
... This research also found a strong predictability of risk perception on both policy support and green consumption. Risk perception has been examined with pro-environmental behaviors in general (Bradley et al., 2020;Der-Karabetian et al., 1996;Macias, 2016) and climate change attitude and actions specifically (Choon, 2019;You & Ju, 2019). Moreover, this study contributes to a limited but growing body of research that examines the effects of risk perception on behavioral changes to curb plastic waste pollution (Menzel et al., 2021;Yoon et al., 2021). ...
Using survey data from 28 European countries, this study investigates individual-level and country-level factors that influence citizen members attitude and actions regarding plastic waste. Results from two-level analysis show that several individual factors including gender, age, political ideology, risk perception, and most importantly environmental news use (include positively?) influence participants' policy support and green behaviors related to plastic waste. This research also found the influence of Environmental Performance, a country-level variable, on policy support and green behaviors toward plastic waste. This study discusses theoretical implications and suggests scholarly and practical implications for policy makers and those who work in the environmental communication field. the 72 nd conference of the International Communication Association in Paris, France.
... Oh et al. (2020) employed the following indicators to evaluate employees' safety and measure emergencies: physical condition, attitude toward safety, and prevention of accidents at work, and found that risk perception is positively correlated to risky behaviors. Macias (2016) proposed that risk perception refers to the risks that decisionmakers sense when they evaluate certain situations, which includes the way decision-makers describe the situation, risk control, probability estimation, and the confidence in estimation. Bodoque et al. (2016) believed that risk perception refers to the situation that people make evaluations on subjective quantitative assessments rather than on scientific measurements, and engage in various activities with their perceived results when assessing the risks, they may encounter in daily life. ...
Safety is fundamental to any organization; if not based on safety, organizational decision-making and management would be meaningless. For a country, soldiers are responsible for national security; they serve as a barrier that defends a country against external invasive forces, thus assuming great missions and responsibilities on their shoulders. To ensure soldiers fulfill their duties of protecting the country and the people, they should gain clear risk perception, which should be instilled into them during their daily combat readiness training. Only when their performances meet safety criteria can they become a strong fighting force. This study recruited military volunteer soldiers as its research participants and employed convenience sampling to distribute questionnaires. In total, this research collected 725 valid copies, of which the data were used to explore the relationship among safety leadership, risk perception, safety culture, and safety performance. To achieve this goal, this study proposed some research hypotheses based on literature review. The hypotheses were all verified via latent variable modeling and multiple hierarchical regression analysis after the reliability and validity of each construct had been tested via confirmatory factor analysis. The research results showed that the more deeply military volunteer soldiers sense safety leadership, the clearer their risk perception will be and the more helpful it would be in achieving safety performance. It is worth mentioning that risk perception can serve as a mediator while safety culture can mediate the relationship between safety leadership and safety performance. Lastly, the research proposes suggestions in the section of conclusions, which provides reference to the combat readiness training and daily tasks of soldiers.
... However, if we take the indirect effect of race into account, the relationship between race and PEBs may be different. More recent studies e.g., [58][59][60][61] revealed that non-white minorities consistently expressed greater concerns about climate change, pollution, environmental threats, and environmental protection than whites. These results are not surprising because, as a result of the environmental justice movements since the 1980s, there has been a growing recognition of the disproportionate impacts of environmental injustice and inequality on non-white communities. ...
A global crisis generated by human-made climate change has added urgency to the need to fully understand human pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) that may help slow down the crisis. Factors influencing personal and public PEBs may or may not be the same. Only a few studies have empirically investigated the determinants of personal and public PEBs simultaneously, but they contain major limitations with mixed results. This study develops a conceptual model for explaining both personal and public PEBs that incorporate demographic, socioeconomic, political, and attitudinal variables, and their direct and indirect effects. Using the latest available data from the 2010 General Social Survey and structural equation modeling (SEM), we tested the determinants of both personal and public PEBs in the United States. The results reveal that environmental concerns, education, and political orientation demonstrate similar significant impacts on both personal and public PEBs, but income, gender, race, urban/rural residency, region, and party affiliation have differential effects on these behaviors. Age, cohort, and religion have no significant effect on both types of behaviors. Our results confirm some existing findings; however, they challenge the findings of much of the literature.
... Like [23,32,33] an ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to assess factors that influence flood risk perception in this study. This method was chosen because the dependent variables (affect, probability, and consequence) are ordered on a scale of 1-5 respectively. ...
Coastal communities across the world face intense and frequent flooding due to the rise in extreme rainfall and storm surges associated by climate change. Adaptation is therefore crucial to manage the growing threat to coastal communities and cities. This case study focuses on Lagos, Nigeria, one of the world's largest urban centers where rapid urbanization, poor urban planning, degrading infrastructure, and inadequate preparedness compounds flood vulnerability. We situate flood risk perceptions within the context of climate-induced mobilities in Lagos, which no study has done, filling a necessary knowledge gap. Furthermore, we apply a unique approach to flood risk perception and its linkage to migration, by using three measures of risk – affect, probability, and consequence, as opposed to a singular measure. Results show that the affect measure of flood risk perception is significantly higher than probability and consequence measures. Furthermore, flood risk perception is shaped by prior experiences with flooding and proximity to hazard. The effect of proximity on risk perception differs across the three measures. We also found that flood risk perceptions and future migration intentions are positively correlated. These results demonstrate the usefulness of using multiple measures to assess flood risk perceptions, offering multiple pathways for targeted interventions and flood risk communication.
... Members of the High A/SRP cluster were more likely to have attended university (Table 9), while Low A/Mod SRP members were more likely to have reported high school attendance as their highest level of education (Table 8). Recent studies have identified educational attainment as a key socio-demographic predictor of environmental risk perception (Lee et al., 2015;Macias, 2016;Mooney et al., 2021a, b). For example, a study from the Republic of Ireland found well users reporting a third-level education (i.e., university/vocational or postgraduate) were 2.6 times more likely to exhibit a "high" perception of the consequences of extreme weather on groundwater quality, than users with primary or secondary level education only (Mooney et al., 2021a, b). ...
Private well users in Ontario are responsible for protective actions, including source maintenance, treatment, and submitting samples for laboratory testing. However, low participation rates are reported, thus constituting a public health concern, as risk mitigation behaviours can directly reduce exposure to waterborne pathogens. The current study examined the combined effects of socio-demographic profile, experience(s), and "risk domains" (i.e., awareness, attitudes, risk perceptions and beliefs) on behaviours, and subsequently classified private well users in Ontario based on cognitive factors. A province-wide online survey (n = 1228) was employed to quantify On-tario well owners' awareness, perceptions, and behaviours in relation to their personal groundwater supply and local contamination sources. A scoring protocol for four risk domains was developed. Two-step cluster analysis was used to classify respondents based on individual risk domain scores. Logistic regression was employed to identify key variables associated with cluster membership (i.e., profile analysis). Overall, 1140 survey respondents were included for analyses. Three distinct clusters were identified based on two risk domains; groundwater awareness and source risk perception. Profile analyses indicate "low awareness and source risk perception" (Low A/SRP) members were more likely male, while "low awareness and moderate source risk perception" (Low A/ Mod SRP) members were more likely female and bottled water users. Well users characterised as "high awareness and source risk perception" (High A/SRP) were more likely to report higher educational attainment and previous well water testing. Findings illustrate that socio-cognitive clusters and their components (i.e., demographics, awareness, attitudes, perceptions, experiences, and protective actions) are distinct based on the likelihood, frequency , and magnitude of waterborne pathogen exposures (i.e., risk-based). Risk-based clustering, when incorporated into quantitative microbial risk assessment, enables the development of effective risk management and communication initiatives that are demographically focused and tailored to specific subgroups .
... Another example is that racial minorities may have higher levels of environmental concerns, all else being equal, probably because they are more likely to be exposed to higher environmental risks (Macias, 2016). Higher income and education are often associated with higher awareness of environmental issues as well (Kim et al., 2012;Ozden, 2008). ...
This study examined commute mode choice in a small college town by employing an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) model to adequately address the role of attitudinal variables, such as pro-car, pro-bus, and pro-environmental attitudes. The campus commute data (n = 554) came from an individual travel survey of the faculty and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The ICLV model provided a richer and more nuanced understanding of the commute mode choice of campus members than a traditional multinomial logit (MNL) model by illustrating how various sociodemographic characteristics influence mode decisions through mode preference and environmental attitudes. Results of a scenario analysis show that policy efforts that aim to shift commuter attitudes toward sustainable modes can be as effective as measures that improve actual transportation systems.
... Xiao et al. (2018) found that Twitter information was concentrated in hard-hit areas, landmark public places, and areas with easy access to the Internet. Macias (2016) indicated that variations in environmental risk perception existed among different race and ethnic groups. ...
The typhoon is one major threat to human societies and natural ecosystems, and its risk perception is crucial for contextualizing and managing disaster risks in different social settings. Social media data are a new data source for studying risk perception, because such data are timely, widely distributed, and sensitive to emergencies. However, few studies have focused on crowd sensitivity variation in social media data-based typhoon risk perception. Based on the regional disaster system theory, a framework of analysis for crowd risk perception was established to explore the feasibility of using social media data for typhoon risk perception analysis and crowd sensitivity variation. The goal was to quantitatively analyze the impact of hazard intensity and social and geographical environments on risk perception and its variation among population groups. Taking the Sina Weibo data during Typhoon Lekima of 2019 as an example, we found that: (1) Typhoon Lekima-related Weibo public attention changed in accordance with the evolution of the typhoon track and the number of Weibo posts shows a significantly positive correlation with disaster losses, while socioeconomic factors, including population, gross domestic product, and land area, are not explanatory factors of the spatial distribution of disaster-related Weibo posts; (2) Females, nonlocals with travel plans, and people living in areas with high hazard intensity, low elevation, or near waterbodies affected by Lekima paid more attention to the typhoon disaster; and (3) Descriptions of rainfall intensity by females are closer to the meteorological observation data.
Climate change will affect all life. Sociologists contribute to major climate change reports and are interested in how people are engaging these documents. Major climate change reports coming from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Climate Assessment are used by scientists, policy makers, and localities to assess climate vulnerability and create climate action plans. Although sociologists have been at the forefront of understanding climate change perception, there is limited understanding about how the public interacts with these reports or whether they are even aware of them. The author uses survey data ( n = 1,013) to assess public awareness of these reports. The results suggest that conservative think tanks may be doing a better job at marketing reports to advance their agendas. This is important information as scientists continue to think about how to reach the public to advance mitigation and adaptation efforts and counter climate denialism.
The unclear meaning of the terms “environment” and “risk” and, as a result, the ambiguous concept of “environmental risk” makes one look for protection from this risk in many insurance products. However, not all of them bear the attributes of an environmental insurance product. This chapter proposes a definition of an environmental insurance product, with environmental underwriting as its main determinant. The basic classification of environmental insurance was indicated, and—from a historical perspective—the process of its evolution was presented.
Background:
To make informed decisions about endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), people need functional understanding of exposures and health and an ability to act on their knowledge. The return of biomonitoring results is an opportunity to educate people about EDCs and motivate exposure reduction.
Objectives:
This study investigates environmental health knowledge about EDCs, concerns about health effects, and exposure-reducing behaviors before and after the return of individual-level exposure results or only study-wide results.
Methods:
Women in the Child Health and Development Studies who were biomonitored for 42 EDCs were randomly assigned to receive a report with personal chemical results or only study-wide findings. We interviewed participants before and after report-back about their knowledge and concerns about EDCs and how frequently they performed exposure-related behaviors. We investigated baseline differences by education and race and examined changes after report-back by race and report type.
Results:
Participants (n=135) demonstrated general understanding of exposure pathways and health impacts of EDCs. For 9 out of 20 knowledge questions, more than 90% of participants (n≥124) gave correct responses at baseline, including for questions about chemicals' persistence in the body and effects of early-life exposure. Most participants held two misconceptions-about chemical safety testing in the United States and what doctors can infer from EDC results-although errors decreased after report-back. Initially, concern was higher for legacy pollutants, but report-back increased concern for consumer product chemicals. After report-back, participants took some actions to reduce exposures, particularly to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and total behavior was associated with knowledge and concern but not race, education, or report type.
Discussion:
This study demonstrated that participants had foundational knowledge about EDCs and that report-back further built their environmental health literacy. We conclude that future communications should target misconceptions about chemicals regulation in the United States, because information about regulations is crucial for people to evaluate risks posed by consumer product chemicals and decide whether to engage with public policy. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP12565.
Climate change impacts are intensifying existing social inequalities locally and globally. Exposure to climate risks, as well as the ability to prepare for and recover from them, are affected by complex power structures. An expanding body of literature uses an intersectional lens to explicate a more nuanced understanding of how co-constituted power structures manufacture differential climate vulnerability. Despite the increasing focus on intersectional approaches to institutionalized climate planning, there are limited quantitative studies examining how the co-constituted processes of being racialized and gendered influence climate change
perceptions in the United States. In contribution to these conversations, we examine how race and gender together shape experiences of climate impacts, perceptions of future risk, and desires for adaptation actors in Austin, Texas. Using a survey of Austin area households, we explored climate perceptions including residents’ self-reported experience of four types of climate events, assessment of changing climate risks, overall climate change concerns, and desires for resilience actions by a variety of actors. Our research suggests that race and gender, income levels, and
political party are related to which climate events people report experiencing, their perception of changes to various climate risks, their overall concern regarding climate change, and their trust in major actors for climate adaptation projects.
Link to article (for 30 days): https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1hGCN7s%7EEVsvLa
Group‐level risk attitudes are often studied across psychology domains (e.g., binge drinking among college students, and driving risk by gender). In measuring these differences by self‐report, such work relies on the assumption that those measures of risk attitude function equivalently across demographic groups—that is, that the measure employed has the property of measurement invariance. Here, we examine the measurement invariance properties of a widely used risk measure, the Domain‐Specific Risk‐Taking (DOSPERT) scale across different demographic groups. A secondary goal was to determine whether a hierarchical or bifactor model better fits the data. Data were collected from Prolific using a stratified sampling approach to ensure sufficient and unconfounded sampling of sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and race ( N = 412). Sample groups consisted of approximately 50 participants each, based on the intersection of three dichotomized demographic groups (high vs. low SES, White vs. non‐White, and female vs. male). Subjects completed the 30‐item form of the DOSPERT assessing likelihood, perceived benefit, and riskiness of the same 30 behaviors. The bifactor models showed a superior fit to the hierarchical models and were used in subsequent analyses. These analyses demonstrated that no models fit generally acceptable criteria for configural fit, and many models additionally fail cutoffs for metric and scalar invariance. This study adds to findings that the DOSPERT does not perform equivalently across demographic groups. We suggest development of a scale of risk that is invariant across commonly assessed demographic factors.
Although researchers have broadly addressed how race, party identification, political ideology, and binary gender categories influence climate change opinions, little attention has been paid to the relationship between sexuality and gender variance (LGBTQ+ identity broadly) and climate change perceptions. Using a quota‐based survey from 2022 that approximates the US population on key demographic characteristics and oversamples LGBTQ+ individuals, we assess the degree to which LGBTQ+ individuals' climate change beliefs and risk perceptions are comparable to cisgender, heterosexual (cishet) individuals, specifically examining climate change beliefs, the perceived threat climate change poses, and worry about climate change. We argue that LGBTQ+ individuals' views are likely to be distinct from their cisgender heterosexual (cishet) counterparts for three reasons: climate change is likely to exacerbate existing structural inequalities, create disaster responses that reinforce heteronormative and discriminatory patterns, and activate LGBTQ+ political culture. We find evidence that LGBTQ+ individuals express higher agreement with climate change beliefs, identify climate change as a greater threat, and worry more about climate change when compared to their cishet counterparts.
With the ongoing need for water conservation, the American Southwest has worked to increase harvested rainwater efforts to meet municipal needs. Concomitantly, environmental pollution is prevalent, leading to concerns regarding the quality of harvested rainwater. Project Harvest , a co-created community science project, was initiated with communities that neighbor sources of pollution. To better understand how a participant’s socio-demographic factors affect home characteristics and rainwater harvesting infrastructure, pinpoint gardening practices, and determine participant perception of environmental pollution, a 145-question “Home Description Survey” was administered to Project Harvest participants ( n = 167) by project promotoras (community health workers). Race/ethnicity and community were significantly associated ( p < 0.05) with participant responses regarding proximity to potential sources of pollution, roof material, water harvesting device material, harvesting device capacity, harvesting device age, garden amendments, supplemental irrigation, and previous contaminant testing. Further, the study has illuminated the idiosyncratic differences in how underserved communities perceive environmental pollution and historical past land uses in their community. We propose that the collection of such data will inform the field on how to tailor environmental monitoring efforts and results for constituent use, how community members may alter activities to reduce environmental hazard exposure, and how future studies can be designed to meet the needs of environmentally disadvantaged communities.
Background
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease. Particulate matter air pollution <2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) is a ubiquitous exposure primarily produced from fossil fuel combustion. Previous epidemiologic studies have been mixed. The objective of this study was to examine the association between ambient PM2.5 exposure and NAFLD among hospitalized patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS).
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of hospitalizations from 2001 to 2011 using the NIS, the largest nationally representative all-payer inpatient care administrative database in the United States. Average annual PM2.5 exposure was estimated by linking census tracts (based on NIS-provided hospital ZIP Codes) with a spatiotemporal exposure model. Clinical conditions were identified using hospital discharge diagnosis codes. Multivariable logistic regression incorporating discharge weights was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between PM2.5 exposure and odds of NAFLD among hospitalized patients adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, year, individual- and area-level socioeconomic status, urbanicity, region, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, impaired fasting glucose, dyslipidemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, and smoking.
Results
There were 269,705 hospitalized patients with NAFLD from 2001 to 2011 (total unweighted n = 45,433,392 hospitalizations). Higher ambient PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased odds of NAFLD among hospitalized patients (adjusted OR: 1.24 per 10 μg/m3 increase, 95% CI 1.15–1.33, p < 0.01). There were statistically significant interactions between PM2.5 exposure and age, race/ethnicity, diabetes, smoking, and region, with stronger positive associations among patients who were aged ≥45 years, non-Hispanic White or Asian/Pacific Islander, non-diabetics, non-smokers, or in the Midwest and West regions, respectively.
Conclusions
In this nationwide cross-sectional analysis of the NIS database, there was a positive association between ambient PM2.5 exposure and odds of NAFLD among hospitalized patients. Future research should examine the effects of long-term historical PM2.5 exposure and incident NAFLD cases.
Assimilation theory has been subject to intensive critique for decades. Yet no other framework has provided the social science community with as deep a corpus of cumulative findings concerning the incorporation of immigrants and their descendants. We argue that assimilation theory has not lost its utility for the study of contemporary immigration to the United States. In making our case, we review critically the canonical account of assimilation provided by Milton Gordon and others; we refer to Shibutani and Kwan's theory of ethnic stratification to suggest some directions to take in reformulating assimilation theory. We also examine some of the arguments frequently made to distinguish between the earlier mass immigration of Europeans and the immigration of the contemporary era and find them to be inconclusive. Finally, we sift through some of the evidence about the socioeconomic and residential assimilation of recent immigrant groups. Though the record is clearly mixed, we find evidence consistent with the view that assimilation is taking place, albeit unevenly.
The process of immigrant assimilation is typically and uncritically conceived as one of linear progress – becoming similar to the dominant group in the place of destination is presumed to be a good thing. But a compelling body of evidence on the adaptation of immigrants and their children points to a deterioration of outcomes over time and generation in the United States, as well as to nonlinear processes of change. While linguistic assimilation among children of immigrants does proceed rapidly and inexorably as a linear function, other outcomes – in such diverse areas as infant and adolescent health, diet and divorce, delinquency and risk behaviors, educational achievement and aspirations, an ethos of hard work, and the development of an ethnic identity – contradict conventional expectations, expose underlying ethnocentric pretensions, and point instead to assimilation's discontents. By examining such paradoxes of immigrant adaptation that emerge in the conceptual interstices between rhetoric and reality, fruitful reformulations of a seminal sociological concept may be stimulated and advanced.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: ( 1 ) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, ( 2 ) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and ( 3 ) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated rating scale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
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Extending existing scholarship on the white male effect in risk perception, we examine whether conservative white males (CWMs) are less worried about the risks of environmental problems than are other adults in the US general public. We draw theoretical and analytical guidance from the identity-protective cognition thesis explaining the white male effect and from recent political psychology scholarship documenting the heightened system-justification tendencies of political conservatives. We utilize public opinion data from nine Gallup surveys between 2001 and 2010, focusing on both a single-item indicator and a composite measure of worry about environmental problems. We find that CWMs indeed have significantly lower worry about environmental problems than do other Americans. Furthermore, the results of our multivariate regression models reveal that this CWMs effect remains significant when controlling for the direct effects of political ideology, race, and gender and the effects of nine social, demographic, and temporal control variables – as well as the effect of individuals generalized (nonenvironmental) risk perceptions. We conclude that the white male effect is due largely to CWMs, and that the latters low level of concern with environmental risks is likely driven by their social commitment to prevent new environmental regulations and repeal existing ones.
We use national-level data to test a modified version of Stern, Dietz, & Guagnano’s causal model of environmental belief and behavior. We focus mainly on ethnic variation in environmental belief, as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), and ethnic variation for four environmental behaviors: environmental reading, household recycling, environmental group joining, and participation in nature-based outdoor recreation. Blacks and foreign-born Latinos were less likely than Whites to score higher on the NEP. Any behavioral differences between Whites and the respective minority groups were expected to diminish with the inclusion of the NEP as an intervening variable in the model between ethnicity and behavior. However, ethnic differences remained stable and strong even when environmental belief was added. Overall, Asian American and U.S.-born Latino environmentalism was most similar to Whites. African American concern and behavior was least similar to White environmentalism. Gender, age, and liberal political orientation were also consistent explicators for both environmental concern and behavior.
Efforts to explain environmental concern as a function of social structure have revealed some weak but reliable associations. Stronger associations have been found between environmental concern and social psychological variables including attitudes, beliefs, and worldviews. The authors used the 1993 General Social Survey to explore a conceptual framework that postulates four causal levels: social structural factors and early socialization experiences; general worldview and ideology about humanity and the environment; specific attitudes, beliefs, and cognitions about environmental issues; and environmentally relevant behavior. Each class of variable has explanatory power beyond that given by other classes of variables, with the social psychological variables generally adding more explanatory power than the structural variables. The patterns are different, however, for the five behavioral indicators. Efforts to explain the structural influences as indirect, operating through the social psychological variables, were mainly unsuccessful.
Drawing on a social constructionist perspective, this paper (1) identifies some of he most salient dimensions of the ''environmental justice ''frame as it has emerged from local community struggles over toxic contamination in the United States; and (2) provides an empirical illustration of the emergence and application of this concept in a particular contaminated community, the Carver Terrace neighborhood of Texarkana, Texas. Carver Terrace, an African-American community consisting mostly of homeowners, recently organized to win a federal buyout and relocation after being declared a Superfund site in 1984. Using case study evidence, the paper argues tal the residents' ability to mobilize for social change was intimately linked to their adoption of an ''environmental justice'' frame. The intent of the conceptual discussion of environmental justice and the case study is to clarify the meaning of a term used with increasing frequency and some ambiguity in both popular and academic discourses. This paper documents the process by which the environmental justice frame is constructed in an interplay between the local community and national levels of the antitoxics movement.
This article first discusses major misconceptions and limitations of research conducted in the United States on race and concern for the environment. An overview of four hypotheses pertaining to concern for the environment among blacks is then provided. Support for each hypothesis is judged by reviewing recent literature and by analyzing the National Opinion Research Center's (NORC) General Social Survey (GSS) trend data 1973–93. The overall evidence shows that concern for the environment is not just an issue for whites and that a “concern gap”; between whites and blacks probably does not exist. It also demonstrates that support among blacks for environmental protection did not decline more than it did for whites during hard economic periods. There is limited evidence to suggest that blacks place a slightly higher priority than do whites on improving the conditions of the social environment than on the state of the environment in general.
What do members of the general public know about polar regions, and how much do they care? Who knows or cares? This paper explores data from the General Social Survey (GSS), which ill 2006 questioned a representative sample Of more than 1800 U.S. adults about their knowledge and opinions concerning polar regions. The polar Survey items were modeled on long-running GSS assessments of general science knowledge and opinions. recently summarized ill the U.S. National Science Board's report Science and Engineering Indicators 2008. Polar knowledge proves to be limited but certainly not absent among survey respondents. Polar knowledge, general science knowledge, and education-togther with individual background characteristics sex, income)-predict policy-relevant opinions. Political orientation filters the impacts of education, and also shows consistent. significant effects across all the polar opinion questions. These 2006 GSS polar results Will provide a baseline for comparison when the questions are repeated oil a 2010 survey, after the International Polar Year concludes.
One view of minority opinion on environmental issues suggests that minority voters are focused on less esoteric concerns such as education, jobs, and crime. An alternative argument is that minorities, many of whom live proximate to the sources of pollution and environmental degradation, are actually more concerned. Focusing here on Latinos, we argue that minority concern about environmental issues is endogenous to the nature of the issue and has changed over time. Specifically, we suggest that increasing environmental awareness among minorities has led Latinos to become more sensitive to environmental issues than their white counter-parts over time, but that this difference is manifest only on issues of proximate concern to Latinos and not on more abstract environmental principles. Pooling Field Polls in California across a 21-year span, we model support for various pro-environment positions among Latino, African-American, and non-Hispanic white respondents. We find considerable empirical support for the dynamics of growing minority environmental concern among Latinos, but only weak evidence for a similar trend among African-Americans.
Currently, there is a limited amount of research on Black attitudes toward the environment. Moreover, possible linkages between race, environmental attitudes, and perceptions about environmental health and justice have not been examined in the United States. This study contributes to this literature by assessing several of these linkages using data obtained from a survey of 247 residents living in or around a highly polluted community of color. It found that public perceptions about environmental health problems and environmental justice were significantly linked to race and public concern for local environmental problems. Blacks are more likely than Whites to believe they are being exposed to poorer environmental conditions, suffer more related health problems, and think that local public agencies and officials have not dealt with environmental problems in their neighborhood in a just, equitable, and effective manner.
"We argue that assimilation theory has not lost its utility for the study of contemporary immigration to the United States. In making our case, we review critically the canonical account of assimilation provided by Milton Gordon and others; we refer to Shibutani and Kwan's theory of ethnic stratification to suggest some directions to take in reformulating assimilation theory. We also examine some of the arguments frequently made to distinguish between the earlier mass immigration of Europeans and the immigration of the contemporary era and find them to be inconclusive. Finally, we sift through some of the evidence about the socioeconomic and residential assimilation of recent immigrant groups. Though the record is clearly mixed, we find evidence consistent with the view that assimilation is taking place, albeit unevenly."
Risks tend to be judged lower by men than by women and by white people than by people of colour. Prior research by Flynn, Slovic and Mertz [Risk Analysis, 14, pp. 1101-1108] found that these race and gender differences in risk perception in the United States were primarily due to 30% of the white male population who judge risks to be extremely low. The specificity of this finding suggests an explanation in terms of sociopolitical factors rather than biological factors. The study reported here presents new data from a recent national survey conducted in the United States. Although white males again stood apart with respect to their judgements of risk and their attitudes concerning worldviews, trust, and risk-related stigma, the results showed that the distinction between white males and others is more complex than originally thought. Further investigation of sociopolitical factors in risk judgements is recommended to clarify gender and racial differences.
Abstract Using data obtained from National Opinion Research Center's General Social Surveys (1973–1990), this paper tests two hypotheses concerning possible changes in the sociopolitical correlates of environmental concern. The “broadening base” hypothesis predicts that environmental concern will diffuse throughout the populace, resulting in a broader base of support for environmental protection, while the “economic contingency” hypothesis predicts that the economically deprived will disproportionately withdraw support for environmental protection during poor economic conditions. Analysis of the data over the 18 years, however, failed to lend any clear support for either of the hypotheses. In marked contrast, results indicate that the social bases of environmental concern—at least as measured by the NORC environmental spending item—have remained remarkably stable over nearly two decades despite fluctuating economic, political, and environmental conditions. Younger adults, the well-educated, political liberals, Democrats, those raised and currently living in urban areas, and those employed outside of primary industries were found to be consistently more supportive of environmental protection than were their respective counterparts.
Abstract Building upon earlier studies, two hypotheses concerning the association between participation in outdoor recreational activities and pro-environmental behavior are tested using data collected in a general population survey from a random sample of individuals in four communities in Pennsylvania. The first hypothesis, that there is a positive association between outdoor recreational participation and pro-environmental behavior, received substantial support. In contrast to previous research, the results did not support the second hypothesis which stated that there will be differences between/among different types of outdoor activities with respect to their impact on pro-environmental behaviors. Clarifications are made with respect to previous classifications of outdoor recreation activities.
Why do white men fear various risks less than women and minorities? Known as the “white-male effect,” this pattern is well documented but poorly understood. This article proposes a new explanation: identity-protective cognition. Putting work on the cultural theory of risk together with work on motivated cognition in social psychology suggests that individuals selectively credit and dismiss asserted dangers in a manner supportive of their cultural identities. This dynamic, it is hypothesized, drives the white-male effect, which reflects the risk skepticism that hierarchical and individualistic white males display when activities integral to their cultural identities are challenged as harmful. The article presents the results of an 1,800-person study that confirmed that cultural worldviews interact with the impact of gender and race on risk perception in patterns that suggest cultural-identity-protective cognition. It also discusses the implications of these findings for risk regulation and communication.
Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: (1) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, (2) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and (3) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated ratingscale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.
Post-1965 immigration to the United States has given rise to a vigorous literature focused on adult newcomers. There is, however, a growing new second generation whose prospects of adap tation cannot be gleaned from the experience of their parents or from that of children of European immigrants arriving at the turn of the century. We present data on the contemporary second generation and review the challenges that it confronts in seeking adaptation to American society The concept of segmented assimilation is intro duced to describe the diverse possible outcomes of this process of adaptation. The concept of modes of incorporation is used for devel oping a typology of vulnerability and resources affecting such out comes. Empirical case studies illustrate the theory and highlight consequences of the different contextual situations facing today's second generation.
Post-1965 immigration to the United States has given rise to a vigorous literature focused on adult newcomers. There is, however, a growing new second generation whose prospects of adaptation cannot be gleaned from the experience of their parents or from that of children of European immigrants arriving at the turn of the century. We present data on the contemporary second generation and review the challenges that it confronts in seeking adaptation to American society. The concept of segmented assimilation is introduced to describe the diverse possible outcomes of this process of adaptation. The concept of modes of incorporation is used for developing a typology of vulnerability and resources affecting such outcomes. Empirical case studies illustrate the theory and highlight consequences of the different contextual situations facing today's second generation.
While the American agricultural and food systems follow a decades-old path of industrialization and globalization, a counter trend has appeared toward localizing some agricultural and food production. Thomas A. Lyson, a scholar-practitioner in the field of community-based food systems, calls this rebirth of locally based agriculture and food production civic agriculture because these activities are tightly linked to a community's social and economic development. Civic agriculture embraces innovative ways to produce, process, and distribute food, and it represents a sustainable alternative to the socially, economically, and environmentally destructive practices associated with conventional large-scale agriculture. Farmers' markets, community gardens, and community-supported agriculture are all forms of civic agriculture. Lyson describes how, in the course of a hundred years, a small-scale, diversified system of farming became an industrialized system of production and also how this industrialized system has gone global. He argues that farming in the United States was modernized by employing the same techniques and strategies that transformed the manufacturing sector from a system of craft production to one of mass production. Viewing agriculture as just another industrial sector led to transformations in both the production and the processing of food. As small farmers and food processors were forced to expand, merge with larger operations, or go out of business, they became increasingly disconnected from the surrounding communities. Lyson enumerates the shortcomings of the current agriculture and food systems as they relate to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. He then introduces the concept of community problem solving and offers empirical evidence and concrete examples to show that a re-localization of the food production system is underway.
We present a theory of the basis of support for a social movement. Three types of support (citizenship actions, policy support and acceptance, and personal-sphere behaviors that accord with movement principles) are empirically distinct from each other and from committed activism. Drawing on theoretical work on values and norm-activation processes, we propose a value-belief-norm (VBN) theory of movement support. Individuals who accept a movement's basic values, believe that valued objects are threatened, and believe that their actions can help restore those values experience an obligation (personal norm) for pro-movement action that creates a predisposition to provide support; the particular type of support that results is dependent on the individual's capabilities and constraints. Data from a national survey of 420 respondents suggest that the VBN theory, when compared with other prevalent theories, offers the best available account of support for the environmental movement.
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The authors examined environmental attitudes among foreign-born Latino Americans and differences in these attitudes associated with acculturation. Data were collected from Spanish-speaking students (N = 153) enrolled in 3 levels of English as a second language (ESL) courses and from English-speaking students (N = 39) enrolled in a Spanish as a second language course. Measures included the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale, a 4-item acculturation scale, ESL course level, and demographics. Acculturation was negatively related to scores on the NEP scale, and Spanish-speaking students in lower level ESL courses scored higher on the NEP than students in higher level courses. These effects remained significant even when income and education were used as covariates. These findings suggest that culture is an important determinant of environmental attitudes.
One of the most consistent findings reported in the public opinion literature is that women are more opposed to nuclear power
than men. This research uses data from two widely cited Harris surveys on nuclear power which were conducted in 1975 and 1976
to test a number of hypotheses based on competing explanations for the sex difference.
The results support the position that it is a greater concern about safety which explains women's lesser support for nuclear
power. Compared with men, women are found to believe that nuclear plants are less safe and to evaluate a number of problems
of nuclear power as more serious, particularly those involving danger to health and human life. These differences are found
to account for the sex difference in support for nuclear power both in general and in the respondents' local communities.
While the impacts of human behavior on air pollution are considerable, very little research has examined this relationship. Similarly, little work has ensued on the effects of air pollution on human behavior. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on air pollution and behavior and present an organizational structure that demonstrates gaps in the literature and lays an initial, conceptual framework for future research. -Authors
Policies designed to solve environmental problems are unlikely to succeed unless they have broad public support, but the motives for mass support are poorly understood. The problem is global in scope, but most of the relevant public opinion research done so far has been carried out in advanced industrial societies, usually Western democracies. Moreover, much of this research is limited to the tip of the iceberg, focusing on what people think about environmental problems without probing into why they think it or how deeply they are committed.
The analysis of mass attitudes toward environmental problems in this article uses evidence from representative national surveys of countries representing the entire developmental spectrum, from rich to poor nations, including not only Western democracies but authoritarian regimes and recently emerging democracies from the former communist bloc. The data come from the 1990–93 World Values survey, carried out in 43 countries containing 70% of the world's population. Our goal is to determine why given publics are—or are not—sufficiently concerned about environmental problems that they are willing to make financial sacrifices and undertake other actions in order to help protect the environment.
Three waste management behaviors (waste reduction, reuse, and recycling) were examined with the use of a conceptual framework developed by the author. It was posited that environmental values, situational characteristics, and psychological factors all play a significant role in the prediction of waste management behavior, within the context of a core intention-behavior relationship. The framework was tested in a self-report questionnaire of 673 residents of Exeter, UK. It was found that the predictors of reduction, reuse, and recycling behavior differed significantly, with reduction and reuse being predicted by underlying environmental values, knowledge, and concern-based variables. Recycling behavior was, in contrast, characterized as highly normative behavior. The use of the approach taken for investigating other environmental behaviors is examined.
This study examines the major differences between native-born and foreign-born residents of the United States on measures of environmental risk perception and risk attitudes. Hypotheses derived from the cultural theory of risk were tested. Discriminant analysis of the General Social Survey (GSS) and International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data was conducted using environmental and technological risk perception and attitudes modules. The results indicate that foreign-born respondents are more risk averse and skeptical about sources of information about environmental risks than their native-born counterparts. While there are some points of agreement, these groups exhibit dissimilar environmental risk perception on several measures. Native-born respondents scored significantly lower on risk perception and attitudes toward technological and environmental risks relative to their foreign-born counterparts. Methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
In this article it is argued that existing studies of Black environmentalism do not appropriately measure the environmental concerns and activities most relevant to Blacks and hence do not accurately reflect the extent to which African Americans are responsive on environmental issues. Using data that measure Black environmental concern and activity in communities threatened by hazardous industries to various degrees, the authors evaluate 2 competing sets of expectations regarding the manner in which these concerns and activities are affected by differential environmental threats to the community. They find that specific local concerns and activities depend, to some extent, on the nature of the threat from nearby industry, but that more general attitudes toward the regulation of industry and concern about the environment do not Reasons as to why this might be the case are discussed.
In the past, social psychological and cultural theories have been used to explain why blacks display lower levels of environmental concern than whites. The article argues that the environmental concern gap that exists between blacks and whites can be better understood by exploring the gap that exists between concern and action. In addition, several factors that influence the existence of an action gap, and the extent to which black groups can be mobilized around environmental issues, are identified. They are (1) level and type of affiliation with voluntary associations, (2) political efficacy, (3) recognition of advocacy channels, (4) access, (5) acquisition of social prerequisites, (6) psychological factors, (7) collective action, and (8) resource mobilization.
Ten statements in the 1993 General Social Surveys that relate to general themes about the environment were reduced to three scales after factor analysis: Pro-Environment, Less-Growth, and Pro-Animal. These scales were regressed on social-economic characteristics of respondents (N = 1,268). It was found that (a) those with lower incomes and less education were more pro-environment and pro-animal, (b) Black respondents were more likely than White respondents to be more pro-environment, (c) younger respondents were more less-growth than older ones, and (d) women were more inclined than men to be supportive of animal rights. Most previous research has found that higher socioeconomic groups are pro-environment. This research suggests there is support to help the environment among lower socioeconomic groups, minorities, and women. There is reason for optimism about the future of the environmental justice movement and the mainstream environmental movement.
Social science theories and empirical data on perceptions of environmental risk have focused almost exclusively on factors related to frequently occurring disagreements between the lay population and technical experts. Discussions of variability within the nonexpert population itself are uncommon, even though theories of risk and culture, as well as empirical evidence, suggest that significant differences in judgments may occur within a diverse population such as that in the United States. Perceptions of risk are influenced, in part, by characteristic ways in which situations of uncertainty are framed and interpreted. Because culturally based attitudes and values can influence general orientation toward risk and uncertainty, it is reasonable to expect that factors differentiating individuals on the basis of shared experiences, values, and beliefs relevant to risk evaluation will be associated with nonequivalent perceptions in many situations. One such variable, ethnicity, is examined for its association with variability in perceptions of environmental risk. The authors review available evidence indicating when ethnic differences in risk perceptions have been observed, and consider three hypotheses that could explain why ethnicity would be predictive of dissimilarities in judgments for many environmental risks. Possible explanations for an ethnicity effect include differences in prior experiences with or exposure to various hazards, dissimilar general beliefs about risk and uncertainty, and differences on various qualitative dimensions that influence nonexpert assessments of risk.
We examine whether conservative white males are more likely than are other adults in the U.S. general public to endorse climate change denial. We draw theoretical and analytical guidance from the identity-protective cognition thesis explaining the white male effect and from recent political psychology scholarship documenting the heightened system-justification tendencies of political conservatives. We utilize public opinion data from ten Gallup surveys from 2001 to 2010, focusing specifically on five indicators of climate change denial. We find that conservative white males are significantly more likely than are other Americans to endorse denialist views on all five items, and that these differences are even greater for those conservative white males who self-report understanding global warming very well. Furthermore, the results of our multivariate logistic regression models reveal that the conservative white male effect remains significant when controlling for the direct effects of political ideology, race, and gender as well as the effects of nine control variables. We thus conclude that the unique views of conservative white males contribute significantly to the high level of climate change denial in the United States.
This report presents current information on the characteristics and work patterns of hired laborers who perform crop work in the United States. Information was obtained from interviews with 4,199 workers in 85 counties between October 1, 1996 and September 30, 1998. Chapters 1-3 provide information about the farmworkers themselves, including demographic characteristics, family composition, national origin, education, literacy, and language proficiency. Chapters 4 and 5 describe the labor force participation of U.S. crop workers and outline the characteristics of farm jobs held by workers in the survey. Chapter 6 contains information on farmworkers' income, assets, and use of social services. The report finds that farmworker wages had stagnated; annual earnings remained below the poverty level; farmworkers experienced chronic underemployment; and the farm workforce increasingly consisted of young, single males who were recent immigrants. Five out of six farmworkers spoke Spanish, farmworkers typically had completed 6 years of education, and just one-tenth of foreign-born farmworkers spoke or read English fluently. The findings indicate a national oversupply of farm labor. A study of the demand for farm labor and how it would change as the supply changed would complement this data and help point the way to an agricultural labor market with stable employment; higher wages; and a legal, domestic workforce. An appendix describes statistical conventions used in this report. (Contains 28 figures and 7 data tables.) (TD)
This study employs nationally representative data to assess the similarities and differences between Blacks and Whites on measures of environmentalism and risk attitudes in the United States. Theoretically guided hypotheses were formulated and tested. Discriminant analysis of the General Social Survey (GSS) and International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data was conducted using three major themes or modules of environmentalism and risk aversion. The results indicate that Blacks are as concerned as or even more concerned than Whites in terms of general environmental attitudes. Whites, however, exhibit higher scores relative to Blacks on attitudes toward economic aspects of proenvironmental behavior or behavioral orientations. Blacks are more inclined than Whites to favor increasing government spending on environmental protection and are relatively more concerned about environmental problems. While there are some points of agreement, these racial groups exhibit dissimilar environmentalism and risk avoiding behaviors on several measures. White respondents scored significantly lower on risk perception and attitudes toward technological and environmental risks relative to their Black counterparts. Methodological and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Abstract We investigated preferences for climate change mitigation policies and factors contributing to higher levels of policy support. The sample was comprised of 316 Michigan and Virginia residents, all of whom completed mail surveys. Of the eight policies proposed to reduce the burning of fossil fuels, respondents overwhelmingly indicated they would not support a gas tax, while support was highest for shifting subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy strategies. With the exception of taxes on gasoline and “gas guzzlers,” a majority of respondents supported all other mitigation policies. Multivariate analyses revealed that greater trust in environmentalists and less trust in industry, greater recognition of the consequences of climate change, higher income, being black, and older age were predictive of greater policy support. Personal values (e.g., altruism), future orientation, and political affiliation were strong predictors of policy support but only indirectly via worldviews and environmental beliefs.
In comparison with urbanites, rural residents live in environments that are less heavily modified by human activity. They also depend more directly on the extraction or use of natural resources and are more likely to suffer the kinds of economic weaknesses that could lead them to favor economic development even at the expense of environmental protection. Yet while some studies have found rural residents to express lower levels of environmental concern than do urbanites, other studies have found that low levels of rural environmental concern may actually reflect lower concerns among farmers in particular. These varied results may be affected by methodologies, including the degree of focus on local environmental concern and the need to separate livins in polluted areas from workins for polluting industries. Drawing on rural areas with significant employment both in agriculture and in mining, this paper presents data on more specific local concerns about the environment and technological development. The findings show persons in agriculture express higher levels of concern than do other rural persons in the same communities. The results suggest that widespread support for environmental protection may make it difficult to isolate groups having low levels of environmental concern unless greater attention is devoted to the specific environmental issues having the greatest local salience.
While the impacts of human behavior on air pollution are considerable, very little research has examined this relationship. Similarly, little work has ensued on the effects of air pollution on human behavior. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on air pollution and behavior and present an organizational structure that demonstrates gaps in the literature and lays an initial, conceptual framework for future research. The paper discusses research on the health effects, cognitive, affective, and conative components of air pollution and human response. In addition, the important roles of mediational constructs such as controllability of pollutant and adaptation are discussed in detail.
Why do white men fear various risks less than women and minorities? Known as the white male effect, this pattern is well documented but poorly understood. This paper proposes a new explanation: cultural status anxiety. The cultural theory of risk posits that individuals selectively credit and dismiss asserted dangers in a manner supportive of their preferred form of social organization. This dynamic, it is hypothesized, drives the white male effect, which reflects the risk skepticism that hierarchical and individualistic white males display when activities integral to their status are challenged as harmful. The paper presents the results of an 1800-person survey that confirmed that cultural worldviews moderate the impact of sex and race on risk perception in patterns consistent with status anxieties. It also discusses the implication of these findings for risk regulation and communication.
When fitting a generalized linear model—such as linear regression, logistic regression, or hierarchical linear modeling—analysts often wonder how to handle missing values of the dependent variable Y. If missing values have been filled in using multiple imputation, the usual advice is to use the imputed Y values in analysis. We show, however, that using imputed Ys can add needless noise to the estimates. Better estimates can usually be obtained using a modified strategy that we call multiple imputation, then deletion (MID). Under MID, all cases are used for imputation but, following imputation, cases with imputed Y values are excluded from the analysis. When there is something wrong with the imputed Y values, MID protects the estimates from the problematic imputations. And when the imputed Y values are acceptable, MID usually offers somewhat more efficient estimates than an ordinary MI strategy.
This research offers an examination of environmental attitudes, concern, and behaviors among individuals presently living
within the context producing contemporary American environmental awareness, but who originated from contexts socially, environmentally,
and economically distinct. More specifically, data from the 1993 environmental module of the General Social Survey are used
to examine variations in environmental awareness across native-and foreign-born individuals. Results suggest that immigrants
living in the U.S. do, indeed, express similarattitudes toward environmental issues as compared to native-born residents. However, shorter-term immigrants (those residing abroad
at age 16) in particular express significantly higher levels ofconcern with regard to environmental problems as compared to native-born residents. In addition, shorter-term immigrants are more
likely to engage in “environmentally friendly” behaviors as compared to native-born residents, although they appear less likely
to have signed an environmentally oriented petition.
Particulate matter and ozone are two well-characterized air pollutants that can affect health and are monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Particulate matter (solid or liquid particles suspended in the air) varies widely in size and chemical composition and can include smoke, fumes, soot, and combustion by-products, as well as natural particles (e.g., windblown dust, pollen, and sea salt). Particulate matter therefore represents a complex class of air pollutants that differ from other gaseous air pollutants (e.g., ozone). The transport and effect of particulate matter, both in the atmosphere and in the human respiratory tract, are governed principally by particulate size, shape, and density. Individual particles are characterized by their equivalent aerodynamic diameter: coarse particulate matter (2.5--10 µm); fine particulate matter, or PM2.5 (0.1--2.5 µm); and ultrafine particulate matter (<0.1 µm). Ozone is a gas that occurs naturally in the stratosphere, approximately 10--30 miles above the earth's surface, protecting the earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Ozone also exists at ground level and is the primary component of smog. At ground level, ozone is created when specific pollutants react in the presence of sunlight. In urban areas, vehicular and industrial emissions are chief contributors to ozone production. Ground-level ozone adversely affects health and damages the environment.
Multiple imputation by chained equations is a flexible and practical approach to handling missing data. We describe the principles of the method and show how to impute categorical and quantitative variables, including skewed variables. We give guidance on how to specify the imputation model and how many imputations are needed. We describe the practical analysis of multiply imputed data, including model building and model checking. We stress the limitations of the method and discuss the possible pitfalls. We illustrate the ideas using a data set in mental health, giving Stata code fragments.