Individual Risk Perception Research Articles

Diabetes Mellituslu Bireylerde Diyabet Komplikasyon Risk Algısının ve Diyabet Öz Yönetim Becerilerinin İncelenmesi

Aim: It was aimed to examine the complication risk perception and diabetes self-management skills of individuals with diabetes.
 Material and Methods: The data of the descriptive and relational study were collected using google forms. The sample consists of 153
 diabetic individuals. Data were collected with the recognition form, Diabetes Mellitus-Risk Perception Scale, and Diabetes Self-Management
 Skills Scale. Number, percentage, mean, standard deviation and median were used as descriptive statistical methods in the evaluation of
 the data. The distribution of the data was evaluated with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test. Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-
 Wallis test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to evaluate non-parametric data.
 Results: The mean age of the sample was 49.96 years, 51% were female, 24.8% were illiterate, 5.2% had postgraduate education, 45.1%
 had poor income, 60.1% had Type 2 diabetes and 36.6% had the highest It has few complications. 87.6% of individuals with diabetes
 were worried about the development of complications, their self-management scores were found to be higher than those of the nonconcerned
 group, and a statistically significant difference was found (p

What influences informal caregivers' risk perceptions and responses to home care safety of older adults with disabilities: A qualitative study.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the factors that influence risk perceptions and responses by informal caregivers of older adults with disabilities.MethodsA descriptive qualitative study was performed, and the socio-ecological framework was applied to interpret the complex influences on individual risk perceptions and responses. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 informal caregivers of older adults with disabilities. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis.ResultsThe four levels of the socio-ecological framework successfully allowed for the analysis of influences on the risk perceptions and responses of informal caregivers as follows: at the individual level: previous experiences, personality characteristics, health literacy, and care burden; at the familial level: economic status, emotional connection, informational and decisional support; at the community level: health service accessibility and neighbor communication; and at the social level: responsibility-driven culture, media advocacy, and aging policies.ConclusionsThe establishment of risk perceptions and coping behaviors by informal caregivers was affected by many factors. Using the framework to interpret our findings provided insight into the influence of these varying factors. Comprehensive, realistic, and achievable strategies are needed for improving the risk perceptions of informal caregivers in home care by addressing personal, familial, and social environmental factors.

A Systematic Review of Radon Risk Perception, Awareness, and Knowledge: Risk Communication Options

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking, and research on individual risk perception of radon is crucial to prevent its health effects. In this work, we aimed to systematically review the scientific literature that has analyzed radon risk perception, awareness, and knowledge to provide insight on communication actions. For this purpose, following the PRISMA 2020 statement, we searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science, focusing on articles published since 2010. After the screening process, we included 40 articles, of which 5 explored only knowledge, 11 added risk perception, 11 further investigated the willingness to make radon measurements, and 13 examined the full cycle of prevention, including risk mitigation actions. Many articles performed a quantitative assessment of the relationship between knowledge/awareness/perception and actions such as radon testing and remediation, showing positive associations and providing interesting elements for evaluating interventions. Furthermore, citizen science actions described by some studies could be crucial for enhancing community self-sufficiency, responsibility, and the quality of preventive actions. To conclude, risk communication can play a key role in making risk prevention possible by reducing exposure, and a multidisciplinary approach, involving constant collaboration with different experts, is essential.

Comparing the spatial patterns of flooding and individual risk perception: A case study of Yunlin, Taiwan

As the risk of flooding increases under climate change, countries are recognising that structural mitigation strategies are kind of limited and that non-engineered mitigation measures are needed to reduce the vulnerability of the population. However, if residents become less aware of flooding due to engineering mitigation, this may result in greater loss of life and property (levee effect), or if residents are exposed to more frequent flooding, this often contributes to a greater adaptive capacity (adaptation effect). Therefore, this study adopts the Global Moran's I and Local Indicators of Spatial Association methods to classify areas with different flooding characteristics based on actual historical flooding data, and further explores the differences of residents' adaptation behaviours between “Floods continuing” and “Floods slowing” areas by means of field interviews and questionnaires. Research Results: (I) “Floods continuing” and “Floods slowing” areas were identified; (II) the relationship between risk perception (including flood awareness, risk threat assessment, non-protective awareness) and adaptation behaviour was established; (III) “Floods continuing” areas had higher flood awareness and risk threat assessment, and most of them were willing to adopt adaptation behaviour; “Floods slowing” area are more trusting in engineering mitigation measures. These results confirm the adaptation effect and levee effect.

Disaster-risk communication, perceptions and relocation decisions of rural residents in a multi-disaster environment: Evidence from Sichuan, China

Existing studies on disaster-risk management from the humanistic perspective have focused on disaster-risk perception as the starting point and ignored the important role of risk communication in shaping individual risk perception and changing behavioural responses. Taking Sichuan Province―a typical disaster-prone province in China―as an example and selecting rural residents in mountainous areas threatened by multiple disasters as interviewees, this study measured the characteristics of interviewees’ disaster-risk communication in the four dimensions of content preference, channel selection, communication frequency and communication form, and appraised the levels of their disaster-risk perceptions in the four dimensions of possibility, threat, self-efficacy and response efficacy. Additionally, econometric models were used to explore the chain of disaster-risk communication, perceptions and relocation decisions in different scenarios in the context of multiple disasters. The results revealed two main findings. (1) In the scenario where social relations promoted the relocation decision, interviewees derived their relocation decisions by two action paths: disaster-risk communication indirectly influenced relocation decisions through risk perception and disaster-risk communication directly influenced relocation decisions. For the indirect action path, the disaster-risk communication of interviewees had a significant impact on their risk perceptions, and self-efficacy and response efficacy played effective roles in their relocation decisions. For the direct action path, some channels of access to information and indicators of the communication form were significantly correlated with the relocation decision. (2) In the relocation-decision scenario promoted by the government, interviewees derived their relocation decision only by their disaster-risk communication. In risk communication, some channels of access to information and the communication forms of residents were significantly correlated with their relocation decisions, while the role of disaster-risk perceptions was ineffective.

Gender and Public Perception of Disasters: A Multiple Hazards Exploratory Study of EU Citizens

Aim: To explore gender influence on individual risk perception of multiple hazards and personal attitudes towards disaster preparedness across EU citizens. Method: An online survey was distributed to 2485 participants from Spain, France, Poland, Sweden and Italy. The survey was divided into two parts. The first part examined perceived likelihood (L), perceived personal impact (I) and perceived self-efficacy (E) towards disasters due to extreme weather conditions (flood, landslide and storm), fire, earthquake, hazardous materials accidents, and terrorist attacks. The overall risk rating for each specific hazard was measured through the following equation R = (L × I)/E and the resulting scores were brought into the range between 0 and 1. The second part explored people’s reactions to the Pros and Cons of preparedness to compute the overall attitudes of respondents towards preparation (expressed as a ratio between −1 and 1). Results: Although we found gender variations on concerns expressed as the likelihood of the occurrence, personal consequences and self-efficacy, the overall risks were judged significantly higher by females in all hazards (p < 0.01). We also found that, in general, most respondents (both males and females) were in favour of preparedness. More importantly, despite the gender differences in risk perception, there were no significant differences in the attitudes towards preparedness. We found weak correlations between risks perceived and attitudes towards preparedness (rho < 0.20). The intersectional analysis showed that young and adult females perceived higher risks than their gender counterparts at the same age. There were also gender differences in preparedness, i.e., females in higher age ranges are more motivated for preparedness than men in lower age ranges. We also found that risk perception for all hazards in females was significantly higher than in males at the same education level. We found no significant differences between sub-groups in the pros and cons of getting ready for disasters. However, females at a higher level of education have more positive attitudes towards preparedness. Conclusions: This study suggests that gender along with other intersecting factors (e.g., age and education) still shape differences in risk perception and attitudes towards disasters across the EU population. Overall, the presented results policy actions focus on promoting specific DRR policies and practices (bottom-up participatory and learning processes) through interventions oriented to specific target groups from a gender perspective.

Dynamic analysis of mean-field and fractional-order epidemic vaccination strategies by evolutionary game approach

Individual's perception of the participant in a vaccine program reflects their intrinsic appreciation of the trade-off between vaccine behavior, risk of infection, and memory effect. Here we present a mean-field approximation and fractional-order model embedded with the evolutionary game theory (EGT) process for susceptible-vaccinated-infected-recovered (SVIR) epidemic dynamics, where the two types of immunity, artificial and natural immunity, are considered. Besides the well-known vaccination game models, we successfully establish a theoretical approach of fractional-order dynamics for vaccination games in which epidemic spread and individual decisions are supposed to evaluate social behavior. The EGT governs the strategy adoption, while the fractional-order process directs the memory effect state. Our analytical forecasts are validated by numerical simulation of the finite difference method and Adams-Bashforth-Moulton algorithm for the mean-field and Caputo fractional-order derivative that assesses various graphs at varying parameters. Our results show that an effective vaccine may meaningfully minimize the risk of infection. However, despite vaccines' obvious impacts and advantages on a community, many individuals choose not to vaccinate for various reasons, leading to anti-vaccination groups and vaccine apprehension. In this aspect, people are interested in gaining natural immunity. Notably, the individual's risk perception is fundamental for controlling the infection, while the fractional-order dynamics mainly dictate the degree of freedom with memory effect. Higher fractional order with EGT leads to an improved vaccination intake, while a cheaper and reliable vaccine ensures to lessening of contagious disease. The proposed model captures relevant disease behavior and the memory effect of a synchronized pandemic event, emphasizing the underlying role of social schemes.

The prosociality of married people: Evidence from a large multinational sample.

Single people are more likely to die from COVID-19. Here we study whether this higher death rate could be partly explained by differences in compliance with protective health measures against COVID-19 between single and married people, and the drivers of this marital compliance gap. Data collected from 46,450 respondents in 67 countries reveal that married people are more likely to comply with protective measures than single people. This marital gap in compliance is higher for men (approximately 5%) than for women (approximately 2%). These results are robust across a large range of countries and independent of country level differences with respect to culture, values or infection rates. Prosocial characteristics linked to morality and social belonging explain more than 38% of the marital gap, while individual risk perceptions play a minor role. These findings help explain single people’s and particularly single men’s greater vulnerability to COVID-19, which in turn can be leveraged to improve the effectiveness of international public policy campaigns aimed at promoting protective health measures.

Implementation of Chemical Health, Safety, and Environmental Risk Assessment in Laboratories: A Case-Series Study.

IntroductionCharacterizing risks associated with laboratory activities in universities may improve health, safety, and environmental management and reduce work-related diseases and accidents. This study aimed to develop and implement a chemical risk assessment method to determine and prioritize more hazardous chemicals in the academic laboratories.MethodsA case-series study was conducted at five academic laboratories and research facilities of an Iranian medical sciences university in 2021. A risk assessment was developed and implemented in three phases to identify, evaluate, and classify potential risks and hazards. The approach provided an innovative tool for evaluating and prioritizing risks in chemical laboratories. Hazards were classified on a five-level scale. The technique reviewed both quantitative and qualitative data and pieces of evidence using Laboratory Safety Guidance (OSHA), Occupational Hazard Datasheet (ILO), the standards of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) codes.ResultsOverall, the frequency of risks rated from “moderate” to “very high” levels was determined for the health hazards (9.3%), environmental hazards (35.2%), and safety hazards (20.4%). Hydrochloric acid had a high consumption rate in laboratory operations and received the highest risk levels in terms of potential hazards to employees' health and the environment. Nitric acid, Sulfuric acid, Formaldehyde, and Sodium hydroxide were assessed as potential health hazards. Moreover, Ethanol and Sulfuric acid were recognized as safety hazards. We observed adequate security provisions and procedures in academic laboratory operations. However, the lack of awareness concerning health, safety, environmental chemical hazards, and inappropriate sewage disposal systems contributed to the increasing levels of laboratory risk.ConclusionsChemicals used in laboratory activities generate workplace and environmental hazards that must be assessed, managed, and risk mitigated. Developing a method of rating health, safety, and environmental risks related to laboratory chemicals may assist in defining and understanding potential hazards. Our assessment suggested the need for improving the risk perception of individuals involved in handling chemicals to prevent exposure from workplace duties and environmental pollution hazards.

Individual and collective protective responses during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 different countries: Results from the EUCLID online survey

BackgroundIn times of unprecedented infectious disease threats, it is essential to understand how to increase individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. The present study therefore examines factors associated with individual and collective pathways. MethodsData was collected through an online survey from 4483 participants (70.8% female, M = 41.2 years) across 10 countries from April 15, 2020 to June 2, 2020 as part of the "EUCLID" project (https://euclid.dbvis.de). Structural equation modeling was used to examine individual and collective pathways across and within countries. ResultsOverall, the adoption of individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures were high. Risk perception on the individual level and perceived effectiveness at the collective level were positively associated with both individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. Furthermore, the model explained considerable variance in individual (40.7%) and collective protective behaviors (40.8%) and was largely replicated across countries. ConclusionsThe study extends previous research by demonstrating that individual risk perception and perceived effectiveness of collective measures jointly affect individual protective health behaviors and support for collective measures. These findings highlight the need to jointly consider a variety of behavioral actions against infectious disease threats, acknowledging interactions between individual and collective pathways.

COVID-19 risk perceptions, worries and preventive behaviors in patients with previous myocardial infarction: results from the myocardial infarction registry Augsburg

ABSTRACT Despite the known association of chronic cardiovascular diseases and more severe courses of COVID-19, little is known about individual risk perception of patients with a history of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and resulting preventive behaviours. In May 2020, a postal survey was conducted, including 150 patients with previous AMI from the myocardial infarction registry Augsburg. The study objective was to assess COVID-19 knowledge, individual risk perception, worries, infection likelihood and preventive behaviours in this patient cohort. From the 100 respondents, 69.7% perceived themselves to be at high risk of developing a severe course of COVID-19. There was a significant positive correlation between dangerousness assessment and knowledge on COVID-19. Despite a majority (70%) of patients rating their susceptibility for an infection as moderate to very high, the individual likelihood of being infected was rated at only 3%. Almost 70% of patients with previous MI classified themselves at high risk for a severe course of COVID-19 infection. As seen in other risk groups as well, the availability of valuable information sources as well as the support in individual risk reduction strategies and psychological coping mechanisms are mandatory, especially since higher knowledge correlates with dangerousness assessment and might lead to better compliance with preventive behaviours.

0158 Risk perception, outcome expectancy, and treatment self-efficacy among women and men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)

Abstract Introduction Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the first-line therapy for OSA. CPAP improves OSA severity, sleep architecture, and daytime symptoms. The effectiveness of CPAP, however, is limited to poor adherence. Individual's risk perception, outcome expectancy, and treatment self-efficacy predict CPAP adherence. CPAP adherence also differs by sex. However, it is unknown if predictors of CPAP use are different for women and men. We thus assessed sex differences in risk perception, outcome expectancy, and treatment self-efficacy among those with OSA. Methods Individuals enrolled to date (target n=267) in the NICEPAP study (NCT05067088), a prospective, observational cohort examining predictors of CPAP adherence, were included. Adults newly diagnosed with OSA prescribed CPAP therapy were included, while those with a need for non-CPAP therapy or unstable medical conditions (e.g., cancer receiving chemotherapy, severe lung, heart, or mental health disorders) were excluded. The exposure was sex. Co-primary outcomes were sub-scale scores from the Self-Efficacy Measure for Sleep Apnea (SEMSA) tool: Perceived Risk, Outcome Expectancies, and Treatment Self-Efficacy before starting CPAP. In addition, we assessed a comprehensive set of established psycho-social and biomedical CPAP adherence predictors using validated measures. SEMSA sub-scale scores for males and females were compared using Kruskal-Wallis statistics. Results We analyzed data for 33 females and 19 males. Females and males were 52 (41.0, 60.5) and 52 (35.0, 58) years old respectively (median [Q1, Q3]). Ten of 33 females and 4 of 19 males were Black with majority of others being White. The apnea-hypopnea index was 17.0 (9.1, 27.0) and 19.0 (13.3, 38.4), Epworth sleepiness scale and insomnia severity index scores were 9.0 (5.0, 12.0) & 15.0 (11.0, 18.0) and 6.0 (4.0, 9.0) & 17.0 (8.0, 19.5) for females and males respectively. There were no statistical differences in scores of Perceived Risk 2.4 (1.6, 2.9) vs 2.1 (1.8, 2.5) (p=0.717), Outcome Expectancies 2.8 (2.3, 3.4) vs 3.3 (2.4, 3.5) (p=0.371) or Treatment Self-Efficacy 3.1 (2.3, 3.7) vs 3.1 (2.0, 3.5) (p=0.977) for females vs. males. Conclusion We found no statistically significant differences in determinants of self-efficacy between women and men. Our findings may reflect a small sample size recruited to date or that self-efficacy of CPAP therapy is independent of sex. Support (If Any) This work was supported by Parker B. Francis Foundation and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/NIH (1K23HL159259-01).

Understanding the relationship between illness perceptions of breast cancer and perceived risk in a sample of U.A.E. female university students: the role of comparative risk

BackgroundIn the Middle East region, the incidence of breast cancer (BC) has substantially increased in the last years. Despite a considerable body of research about BC in Arab countries, how illness perceptions of healthy women about BC may influence risk perception is unknown.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 298 young Emirati women. The measures included demographic information, illness perceptions, and risk perception. Descriptive and correlational analyses were performed to assess illness perceptions about BC, perceived individual risk and comparative risk. A structural equation modelling (S.E.M.) was built to investigate the relationship between illness perceptions and perceived individual risk.ResultsParticipants reported negative illness perceptions about BC The individual risk perception and the compared risk perception for BC were low. Participants with a family history of BC reported more negative illness and higher risk perceptions. The relationship between illness perceptions and perceived individual risk was significant and mediated by compared risk. The S.E.M. explained 55.9% of the variance in predicting perceived individual risk for BC.ConclusionWomen's views of BC are important factors in risk perception and may provide culturally sensitive clues to promote early screening for BC in Arab countries. This may be important for policymakers to design intervention strategies to lower health risks, considering the different ways in which women perceive their risks for BC.

The dynamic evolution mechanism of public health risk perception and the choice of policy tools in the post-epidemic era: Evidence from China

ObjectivesRepeated outbreaks of small-intensity epidemics are one of the important features of the post-epidemic era. After a new round of epidemics broke out in Liaoning in mid-May 2021, the Chinese government's vaccination process quickly accelerated, completing nearly 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccination within 7 days. How is this efficient policy implementation process accomplished? What is the behavioral logic behind it? MethodsThis article constructs an analysis framework of “perception-goal-tool”. Trying to study the individual's micro-psychological mechanism as a starting point, with the help of a Health Belief Model, to explore the dynamic evolution of individual health risk perception before and after the outbreak of a small-intensity epidemic and its impact on vaccination willingness. And on this basis, analyze the flexible governance process of the Chinese government in the post-epidemic period. ResultsThe perceived severity is the core variable that affects the public's willingness to vaccinate. A small-intensity epidemic outbreak will aggravate the impact of the three health belief components on the public's willingness to vaccinate. In the three interactive analyses of health belief components, individuals have the highest willingness to inoculate in situations of low perceived susceptibility, low perception barriers, and high perception severity, and economic policy tools and authoritative policy tools play a key role before and after the outbreak of a small-intensity epidemic. ConclusionIn the context of a small-intensity epidemic, the reason why the Chinese government can achieve rapid crisis management lies in the interaction between policy goals, policy tools, and public risk perception.

COVID-19-Related Burden and Risk Perception in Individuals with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy and Multifocal Motor Neuropathy: A Cross-Sectional Study.

IntroductionThis study investigated the mental health burden of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) or multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to matched healthy controls.MethodsThe cross-sectional study included 59 patients with a diagnosis of either CIDP or MMN and 59 propensity score matched healthy controls. All participants completed a survey including demographics, distress (distress thermometer), depressive symptoms (PHQ-2), generalized anxiety (GAD-7), COVID-19-related fear, and risk perception. Additionally, patients with CIDP or MMN were asked about the frequency and type of infections since treatment initiation.ResultsPatients with either CIDP or MMN reported experiencing reduced frequency or no differences in infection frequency since immune medication was initiated. Regarding COVID-19, patients with CIDP or MMN rated their risk of infection similar to healthy controls, while they expected a higher probability of the occurrence of symptoms, severe course, and dying of COVID-19. They reported increased depressive symptoms, generalized anxiety, and COVID-19-related fear in comparison to healthy controls.ConclusionDespite their personal experience of reduced frequency of infection since immune medication was initiated, patients with CIDP or MMN reported increased risk perception and prevalence of depressive symptoms, generalized anxiety, and COVID-19-related fear in comparison to healthy controls. This highlights the need for evidence-driven strategies to protect the mental health of this vulnerable group.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40120-022-00359-3.

ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF RISK PERCEPTIONS AND RELATED PARAMETERS FOR THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

INTRODUCTION: Assessment of risk perception in communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is essential for organizing effective interventions. The study aims to determine the level of COVID-19 risk perception and the factors associated with risk perception. METHODS: It is a cross-sectional study in which 452 participants, who were employees of Eskisehir Osmangazi University, were included between December-2020 and January-2021. The COVID-19 risk perception level was assessed with nine questions by modifying the COVID-19 Instant Monitoring Turkey protocol study questions. The prepared questionnaire included variables of sociodemographic characteristics, transmission risk status, preparedness, self-efficacy, compliance with protective behaviors, actionism(ineffective protection behavior), and confidence in information sources/tools. The 25th percentile and lower scores were evaluated as having low risk perception. The study data were evaluated with univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The participants had a mean age of 38.51±9.66 years (46.9% females, 53.1% males). The median COVID-19 risk perception score was 42(Interquartile range: 35-50). In this study, the low COVID-19 risk perception frequency was 26.3%. Being 40 years old and older (OR;%95CI: 1.76;1.12-2.76), the low level of compliance with protective behaviors (1.75;1.09-2.76) and low level of confidence in information sources/tools (2.37;1.49-3.78) were predictive for having a low level of risk perception of COVID-19. Those with a low COVID-19 risk perception were more likely to agree that the restrictions being applied were exaggerated (p=0.001). The most trusted sources of information about COVID-19 were the statements of health professionals and official institutions (p<0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: A low-level risk perception was detected in one out of every four people in the study group. COVID-19 risk perception of individuals should be monitored since it is related to many parameters in epidemic management.

Fire safety behavior model for residential buildings: Implications for disaster risk reduction

Starting from the unexplored level of the fire safety of citizens in Serbia, this paper presents the results of quantitative research regarding a fire safety behavior model for residential buildings in Serbia. The research was conducted using a questionnaire that was provided and then collected online for 540 respondents during April 2021. The study's objective was to determine to what degree education level and gender influence the prediction of the fire safety behavior model (individual preparedness, personal security, fire risk, fire prevention knowledge) for residential buildings in Serbia. The multivariate regression analyses showed that the most important predictor of individual preparedness, personal security, and fire risk perception was gender, followed by age. On the other hand, education level, ownership status, and monthly income did not significantly affect individual preparedness for fire protection, personal security, fire risk, and prevention knowledge. Moreover, the results showed the main reasons for not taking preventive actions are the high cost of the equipment, not being familiar with the exact measures to take, believing that the emergency services would provide them with the necessary assistance, a lack of time, etc. The obtained results can be used to improve the preparedness of citizens to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to fires in residential buildings and create programs and campaigns to improve awareness among the general public.

Risk perception and risk realities in forming legally binding agreements: The governance of plastics

The effectiveness of a legally binding treaty to manage plastic pollution will depend on how people perceive the risk of the problem in terms of both whether and how much they fear it. Plastic pollution caught the attention of the global public owing to uncertainty surrounding potential human health impacts. Despite an initial concern about human exposure, especially to microplastics, scientific evidence started emerging that the risks of ingesting and even inhaling microplastic was relatively small, suggesting low levels of personal risk. Still, at UNEA5 in Nairobi in 2022, a resolution was passed to start negotiations towards a legally binding agreement for the governance of plastics throughout its life cycle. We compare the trajectory of marine plastics as an environmental governance issue with other global challenges and do a comparative analysis using culture theory to assess how individual risk perception and worldviews inform collective attitudes on governance. We conclude by considering how different risk perceptions may have changed when even more knowledge became available concerning the implications of microplastics breaking down further into nanoplastics and being registered in human blood samples. We argue that this may have contributed to shifting public perception about personal risk and given the requisite push for coordinated global governance of this material.

Students' Perceptions of University Corruption in a Spanish Public University: A Path Analysis.

Most research on corruption in educational settings has focused on a cross-national and macro-level analysis; however, to our knowledge, few papers have sought to explore individual perceptions that explain corruption in higher education. The present research aimed to disentangle students’ predictors of corrupt intention in a Spanish public university. A total of 933 undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. students filled out an online survey measuring four corruption scenarios: favoritism, bribery, fraud, and embezzlement. Path analysis (PA) revealed that justifiability, risk perception, and perceived prevalence of corruption were significant factors in predicting corrupt intention. Moreover, willingness to report a corrupt act was predicted by corrupt intention, justifiability, and risk perception. Corrupt behavior is a complex phenomenon explained not only by peers’ behavior, but also by their individual justifications and perception of risk. Education is not free of corruption, and universities must address this urgent problem in order to avoid future economic, societal, and ethical problems.

That Fine Rain That Soaks You Through. Exploring the Role of Weather Lore, Cultural Identity, and Community Memory in Shaping Attitudes to Climate Change

As the limitations of climate change communication, which focusses on the dissemination of scientific knowledge has become apparent, climate studies scholars have called for richer, less reductive approaches. This includes adopting more emotive language, which is sensitive to the myriad ways communities understand and know their own environ and climate. While on the surface, the recent emotive turn of popular discourse on anthropogenic climate change seems to heed this call, the communication approaches most commonly associated with these developments are limited in their ability to reach diverse communities. This article attempts to address this gap and contribute to affecting action in a manner which is both proportionate with the immediate climate risk, but also successful in engaging a range of groups within the community. Exploring the links between weather lore, cultural identity, and memory in shaping individual perceptions of climate risks, the article asks how such identities, both at the community and individual level, might have informed indifference or inaction with regards to climate change. Adopting a style that situates the author within the narrative, this essay uses Manchester, England and its popular reputation as ‘the rainy city' to explore these themes. Charting the history of the popularization of the meteorological myth that Manchester receives excessive amounts of rainfall, the article exposes how this folklore is bound up in regional cultural identity and civic pride, first as “Cottonopolis” at the vanguard of the Industrial Revolution, and then in the city's post-industrial rebranding as a place known for music, comedy, and sporting successes. In drawing these threads through community, familial and individual narratives, the article concludes by outlining how we might better utilize affection and cultural identification with local environments and weather to promote future behavior change.