ABSTRACT
As residents living in hazard-prone areas face on-going environmental threats, the actions they take to mitigate such risks are likely motivated by various factors. Whereas risk perception has been considered a key determinant of related behavioral responses, little is known about how risk mitigation actions influence subsequent perceived risk. In other words, do actions to prevent or mitigate risk reduce risk perception? This longitudinal study considers the dynamic relationships between risk perception and risk-mitigating behavior in the context of forest disturbance in north-central Colorado. Based on panel survey data collected in 2007 and 2018, the results provide a first look at changes in perceived forest risks as they relate to individual and community actions in response to an extensive mountain pine beetle outbreak. Analysis revealed that the perception of direct forest risks (forest fire and falling trees) increased, whereas indirect forest risk perception (concern on broader threats to local community) decreased across the two study phases. Higher individual or community activeness (level of actions) was associated with subsequent reductions in perceived forest fire risk, smaller increases in direct risk perception, and larger decreases in indirect risk perception. These findings contribute insights into the complex risk reappraisal process in forest hazard contexts, with direct implications for risk communication and management strategies.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Family plays a significant role in children's dental and oral health (DOH) elements, such as children's DOH knowledge and practice, the development of children's dental fear and anxiety (DFA), children's dental visits, and children's DOH status. The study aims to address the interrelationship of these elements based on individual and familial socioeconomic and demographic (SED) attributes. METHODS: Given the possibility that the COVID-19 epidemic might alter oral health and disrupt dental care, a systematic literature search from the Scopus and Web of Science library database was limited to the 2017-2019 peer-reviewed published literature, which includes quantitative studies that investigated at whether SED status contributed to children's DOH elements. Four sets of keywords are combined in both library database literature searches. Using the PRISMA-ScR Checklist as a reference, we conduct this scoping review. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies were included. Studies were from Brazil, Iran, China, India, Indonesia, Peru, Portugal, and UK. The socioeconomic characteristics include parental education, income, employment, assets and home ownership, type of residence, and health insurance coverage. The demographic characteristics include parent's age, children's age, the number of family members, and family type. There were 13 studies observing parent's education, seven examining family income, four identifying parental employment, three measuring family assets, six assessing the type of residence, and one recording health insurance coverage. Few studies assessed socioeconomic proxies such as school type, free school lunches, and social networks. In addition, race, the number of household members, the number of children, and family type were measured in at least one of the literature. CONCLUSION: Family SED characteristics may define a pathway to children's DOH elements.
ABSTRACT
The relationships between risk perception and related behavior form a fundamental theme in risk analysis. Despite increasing attentions on the temporal dimension of risk perception and behavior in recent literature, the dynamic relationships between these two constructs remain understudied. Infectious disease outbreaks, such as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, provide a key setting for analyzing evolving perceptions of and responses to natural or human-induced hazards. The main objectives of this research are: (1) to assess temporal changes in cognitive and affective dimensions of perceived COVID-19 risk as well as related protective behavior; and (2) to explore the dynamic relationships between COVID-19 risk perception and behavioral responses. Timely data on changing risk perception and behavior related to the COVID-19 outbreak were collected through two series of online surveys from four major cities (Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City; N = 736) and the central Midwest region of the United States (N = 1240) respectively during March-August 2020. The analysis revealed that: (1) the cognitive and affective dimensions of perceived COVID-19 risk and preventive behavior all changed over time; (2) there were both within- and across-time correlations between COVID-19 risk perception indicators and preventive actions; and (3) preventive actions showed varied feedback effects on individual aspects of perceived COVID-19 risk over time. Findings from this research support and expand major conceptual approaches to changing relationships between risk perception and behavior, particularly the risk reappraisal hypothesis. The study also has useful implications for health risk management and future research directions.