Perceptions Of Personal Vulnerability Research Articles

여성의 온라인상 범죄 두려움에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구

Fear of online crime among women leads to limitations in their online activities,
 raising concerns about supporting women's free and safe engagement online. To
 achieve this, it’s crucial to thoroughly comprehend the factors contributing to the
 fear of online crime among women. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the
 factors influencing women’s fear of online crime.
 Aligned with this objective, drawing upon vulnerability theory, broken windows
 theory, and crime victimization models, this study seeks to explore the factors
 affecting women’s fear of online crime. First, vulnerability theory suggests that
 perceptions of personal vulnerability, such as gender and education, influence
 women’s fear of online crime. Second, the broken windows theory indicates that
 perceptions of disorderliness impact the fear of crime, especially as disorder
 perceptions extend to online spaces. Hence, this study examines whether perceptions
 of disorderliness in online spaces affect women’s fear of crime. Lastly, the crime
 victimization model suggests that both direct and routine online harassment
 experiences influence fear of crime. Thus, this research aims to explore whether
 routine online harassment, besides direct crime victimization, affects women’s fear
 of online crime.
 To fulfill these research objectives, this study analyzes the survey results from
 the ‘Survey on Online Sexual Harassment, Sexual Violence, and Misogyny’ conducted
 among 600 women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. The findings revealed that as
 women perceive online hate issues as severe and experience more instances of
 online hate expressions, their fear of online crime tends to increase.
 Consequently, to enable women to engage freely and safely online, management
 and supervision regarding expressions of online hate directed at women are deemed
 necessary. In several countries, regulations penalize authors posting hate content
 and hold platform companies responsible for monitoring hate speech posts. Such
 policies indicate the need for regulatory measures against hate expressions in South Korea as well.

The inhibitory effect of a distressing anti-smoking message on risk perceptions in smokers

We tested the hypothesis that people strategically reduce their estimates of personal risk when they are confronted with a potentially distressing health message. One hundred and two smokers were exposed to either an anti-smoking message presented using an imagery designed to maximize emotional distress, or the same message presented using less distressing images. We found lower personal risk estimates in the distressing image message condition. A path analysis showed that this effect may be mediated by a tendency to make more negative evaluations of the distressing message. Participants also spent less time attending to the distressing message, but this did not mediate the effects of the experimental manipulation. We suggest that these lowered risk estimates are partly the outcome of defensive processes activated by distress associated with perceptions of personal vulnerability.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong in 2003: stress and psychological impact among frontline healthcare workers

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) posed an unprecedented threat and a great challenge to health professionals in Hong Kong. The study reported here aimed at investigating the origin of stress and psychological morbidity among frontline healthcare workers in response to this catastrophe. Self-administered questionnaires were sent to frontline healthcare workers in three hospitals. The General Health Questionnaire was used to identify psychological distress. Socio-demographic and stress variables were entered into a logistic regression analysis to find out the variables associated with psychological morbidity. The response rate was 40 %. Sixty-eight per cent of participants reported a high level of stress. About 57 % were found to have experienced psychological distress. The healthcare workers' psychological morbidity was best understood by the perceptions of personal vulnerability, stress and support in the workplace. These findings shed light on the need for hospital administrators to be aware of the extent and sources of stress and psychological distress among frontline healthcare workers during disease outbreak.

“How Many Partners Is Too Many?” Shaping Perceptions of Personal Vulnerability1

The effectiveness of interventions that directly inform people of the risks posed by their own behavior is frequently undermined by people's ability to defend themselves against unwanted information. In response to this difficulty, an alternative approach to shaping people's perceptions of personal vulnerability in which people remained unaware of the intervention was tested. As part of a survey on sexual issues, college undergraduates reported the total number of sexual partners they had had on a response scale that systematically framed their sexual behavior as being either above average or below average. Participants in the 2 conditions reported the same absolute number of sexual partners. However, those who received a response scale that implied they had had more partners than the average student reported greater concern about their sexual behavior than did those who received a scale that implied they had had fewer partners than average. The implications of this approach for influencing perceptions of personal risk are discussed.

At Risk or Not? Susceptibility Perceptions of Women Using Family Planning Services in an AIDS Epicenter

Studies using in-depth qualitative interviews have informed us about how women construct HIV/STD risk perception, based on their propensity to assess their own risk in terms of their partners' behaviors and characteristics and to view their partners as safe and trustworthy. In this study, conducted among 360 family planning clients recruited for an HIV/STD preventive intervention, we examined the perceptions of women who feel susceptible to HIV/STDs as well as those of women who feel safe from the threat of infection or who resolved earlier feelings of vulnerability. We found that women who feel susceptible accurately identify the factors that place them at risk: failure to practice condom-protected sexual intercourse and risky partners. Being diagnosed with an STD was an important trigger for the perception of personal vulnerability. Getting a negative HIV test result was the most common means of resolving perceptions of risk from the past. In logistic regression analyses of the behavioral predictors of perceived susceptibility and of a change in perception, the factors women identified were found to be significant.

What is the relationship between breast cancer risk and mammography screening? A meta-analytic review.

This meta-analytic review addresses the issue of how a woman's risk of breast cancer relates to the likelihood that she will obtain mammography screenings. Studies that compared women with or without a family history of breast cancer (n = 19) showed that women with a family history were more likely to have been screened. Studies that measured perceived risk (n = 19) showed that feeling vulnerable to breast cancer was positively related to having obtained a screening. Studies that compared women who did or did not have a history of breast problems (n = 10) showed that those with a positive history were more likely to have been screened. Finally, studies that measured worry (n = 6) showed that greater worry was related to higher screening levels. Taken together, these data suggest that increasing perceptions of personal vulnerability may increase screening behavior for breast cancer.

Sexual risk reduction behaviors among young heterosexual adults

Although young, sexually-active heterosexuals have always been at risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases, the recent appearance of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has increased the possible peril of sexual experimentation. Currently, behaviors to reduce the risk of contracting AIDS are being widely advocated. The present study examines predictors of self-reported risk reduction behaviors in a sample of 188 young, sexually-active heterosexuals. Three factors (perceptions of personal vulnerability, sexual behavior history, and homophobia) were hypothesized to predict levels of worry about contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Worry, in turn, was hypothesized to predict behavior change. Structural equation modeling provided support for these predictions, but found somewhat different patterns for women and men. For both sexes, higher levels of worry were a significant predictor of risk reduction behavior implementation. For women only, more extensive sexual behavior histories significantly predicted levels of worry. In contrast, for men only, perceptions of personal vulnerability and homophobia were significant predictors of worry. Results suggest that gender plays an important role in understanding cognitive predictors of sexual risk reduction behaviors.