The frequency and severity of floods have increased due to climate change and achieving successful disaster risk reduction is deemed crucial to attain preparedness and sustainability. The responsibility for society’s preparedness mainly resides with local public actors. However, several Swedish municipalities have insufficient flood risk management. Research within disaster risk reduction suggests that risk can be understood as socially constructed and produced, highlighting the relevance of exploring risk perceptions. Yet, previous research has mostly been concerned with objective dimensions of risk and largely neglected social dimensions, such as decision-makers’ risk perceptions. Ridolfi and colleagues’ theoretical contribution to Cultural Theory of Risk suggests four types of ideal societies, or perceptions, which ultimately affect flood risk management: risk neglecting, risk monitoring, risk downplaying, and risk controlling perceptions. Yet, the theoretical work has not been applied empirically. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of local public actors’ perceptions of flood risk and how this in turn may be connected to different flood risk management strategies. This thesis adopts a comparative case study design and explores the topic by applying Ridolfi and colleagues’ theoretical contribution to the municipalities of Karlstad and Kristinehamn. While Kristinehamn has been criticized for insufficient flood risk management, Karlstad has been put forward as a front runner in disaster risk reduction. Surprisingly, the results show that the municipalities reason in similar ways about flood risk, suggesting that the proposed differences between the two may be overestimated. Both municipalities believe in the capacity of technical hard-adaptive measures manipulating the environment and thus largely correspond to the risk controlling perception. However, the municipalities differ in some respects, as it can be argued that Karlstad shows signs of a risk monitoring perception whereas Kristinehamn shows signs of a risk neglecting or downplaying perception, potentially shedding light on the slightly varying approaches. In essence, the study’s utilization of the theory indicates that decision-makers’ subjective risk perceptions are important to explore in order to understand flood risk management approaches and subsequently important processes to achieve overall preparedness and sustainability. By exploring municipal actors’ perceptions of flood risk, the study not only contributes empirically by applying mentioned theoretical contribution for the first time, but also adds to the wider body of the theoretical knowledge on the significance of decision-makers’ risk perception for risk reduction, and thus contributes to a better understanding of the social dimensions of risk.

Climate change mitigation requires changes in greenhouse gas emitting behaviours. This dissertation aims to provide insights into the influences of behaviour change for two high-impact pro-environmental behaviours: climate policy support and consumption of animal products. It does so by using quasi- and randomized experiments and by monitoring changes in behaviour over time. Study 1 examined changes in climate policy support and climate change risk perception over the course of a naturally occurring event: seasonal forest fires. It employed growth curve modeling techniques in a structural equation modeling framework to analyze longitudinal relations between these two constructs over time, and to examine growth in climate change risk perception while controlling for the effect of exposure to forest fires and other extreme weather. Indirect exposure to forest fires (e.g., media) had a modest effect on climate change risk perception. Climate change risk perception for individuals with above-mean perceptions of scientific agreement tended to increase faster than for those with below-mean perceptions. Individuals whose climate change risk perception grew at a faster-than-average rate tended to also grow at a faster-than-average rate for climate policy support. Study 2 provided insight into the psychological influences on consumption of animal products and on willingness to reduce. Following a comprehensive literature review, known influences were examined using Latent Profile Analysis to identify groups of individuals with similar perceptions of facilitators of meat consumption and obstacles to reducing it. Three groups were identified: strong-hindrance meat eaters, moderate-hindrance meat eaters, and reducers. Validation variables confirmed the practicality of the three profiles: groups differed in their current consumption of animal products and in their willingness to reduce. Using these findings, three group-matched interventions were designed in Study 3. Intervention design was informed by four behaviour-change frameworks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control condition, implementation-intention condition, information-and-healthy-recipe condition, and information-and-substitution condition. Then, they completed up to 28 days of food diaries. Multilevel model analyses were employed to examine changes in the consumption of animal products over time. Participants reduced their consumption by 20 grams of CO2 per day on average. Individuals that were randomly assigned to an intervention condition that matched their meat-eater profile reduced their consumption of animal products by 40 grams CO2 per day on average. Taken together, these studies highlight the importance of considering individual differences (i.e., tailoring) when designing pro-environmental behaviour interventions. / Graduate

abstract: Environmental hazards and disaster researchers have demonstrated strong associations between sociodemographic indicators, such as age and socio-economic status (SES), and hazard exposures and health outcomes for individuals and in certain communities. At the same time, behavioral health and risk communications research has examined how individual psychology influences adaptive strategies and behaviors in the face of hazards. However, at present, we do not understand the explanatory mechanisms that explain relationships between larger scale social structure, individual psychology, and specific behaviors that may attenuate or amplify risk. Extreme heat presents growing risks in a rapidly warming and urbanizing world. This dissertation examines the social and behavioral mechanisms that may explain inequitable health outcomes from exposure to concurrent extreme heat and electrical power failure in Phoenix, AZ and extreme heat in Detroit, MI. Exploratory analysis of 163 surveys in Phoenix, AZ showed that age, gender, and respondent’s racialized group identity did not relate to thermal discomfort and self-reported heat illness, which were only predicted by SES (StdB = -0.52, p < 0.01). Of the explanatory mechanisms tested in the study, only relative air conditioning intensity and thermal discomfort explained self-reported heat illness. Thermal discomfort was tested as both a mechanism and outcome measure. Content analysis of 40 semi-structured interviews in Phoenix, AZ revealed that social vulnerability was associated with an increase in perceived hazard severity (StdB = 0.44, p < 0.01), a decrease in perceived adaptation efficacy (StdB = -0.38, p = 0.02), and an indirect increase (through adaptive efficacy) in maladaptive intentions (StdB = 0.18, p = 0.01). Structural equation modeling of 244 surveys in Phoenix, AZ and Detroit, MI revealed that relationships between previous heat illness experience, perceived heat risk, and adaptive intentions were significantly moderated by adaptive capacity: high adaptive capacity households were more likely to undertake adaptive behaviors, and those decisions were more heavily influenced by risk perceptions and previous experiences. However, high adaptive capacity households had lower risk perceptions and fewer heat illness experiences than low adaptive capacity households. A better understanding of the mechanisms that produce social vulnerability can facilitate more salient risk messaging and more targeted public health interventions. For example, public health risk messaging that provides information on the efficacy of specific adaptations may be more likely to motivate self-protective action, and ultimately protect populations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Environmental Social Science 2019

Nano materials can today be found in a wide range of consumer products and the number of new products on the market is expected to inrease. In the shadow of hope for nano materilas potential in various applications, low awareness of its health and environmental risks is hiding. Furthermore, the knowledge about people´s risk perception of nano materials is limited. Parallel to the situation described above, the scholls meet the challenge of incrasing the scientific literacy. To achieve this goal, skills in argumentation in science studies has been emphasized and the concept of socio-scientific issues has been emerged. Using focus groups as a method, this study aimed first, to explore young engineering student´s risk perception of nano materials, and secont to analyze the extent to which they apply scientific konwledge to argue about nano materials. The material from the focus group interviews was analyzed with respect to both content and interaction. To analyze the content, a thematic classification of the material was made. The interactive and communicative forms were highlighted by an analysis of arguments according to the SEE-SEP-model. Seven themes were indentified from the focus group material. It was also assumed that 55 percent of the participants´arguments were based on values, 25 percent on konwledge and 20 percent on personal experiences. Despite the absence of specific knowledge, the young engineering students have the ability to conduct a complex argumentation about nano materials where they involve the paradox; new opportunities, inresolved risks. Their risk perception is not primarily based on knowledge but on emotional expressions such as fascination, hope, resignation and fear. / Nanomaterial återfinns idag i ett brett spektrum av konsumentprodukter och antalet nya produkter förväntas öka på marknaden. I skuggan av förhoppningar om nanomaterialens potential i allehanda tillämpningar döljer sig bristfälliga kunskaper om dess hälso- och miljörisker. Vidare är kunskapen om människors riskpercetion an nanometrial begränsad. Parallellt med den ovan beskrivna situationen står skolan inför utmaningen att öka den naturvetenskapliga allmänbildningen. För att uppnå målet har kompetens inom argumentation i de naturorienterande ämnene betonats och begreppet sociovetenskapliga dilemman vuxit fram. Med fokusgrupper dom metod har studien syftat dels till att undersöka unga teknikstuderandes riskperceetpion av nanomaterial, dels till att analysera i vilken utsträckning de tillämpar vetenskapliga kunskaper för att argumentera om nanomaterial. Materialet från fokusgruppsintervjuerna analyserades med avseende på både innehåll och interaktion. För att analysera innehållet gjordes en tematisk indelning av materialet. De interaktiva och kommunikativa formerna belystes genom en argumentationsanalys enligt SEE-SEP-modellen. Sju teman identifierades ur fokusgruppmaterialet. Vidare utgick 55 % av deltagarnas argument från värderingar. därefter kom kunskap med 25 % och sist personliga erfarenheter med 20 %. Trots avsaknad av specifik kunskap, har unga teknikstuderande förmågan att föra en komplex argumentation om nanomaterial där de berör pradoxen; nya möjligheter, outredda risker. Deras riskperception baseras inte främst på kunskaper utan på emotionella uttryck så som fascination, hopp,uppgivenhet och rädsla.

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先行研究は高いリスク認知が犯罪不安の原因になるとしてきたが、因果関係は確かめられてこなかった。本研究はそうした問題を解決するため、実験的手法を用いて犯罪不安の生起過程を検討した。研究1では、階層的クラスター分析によって犯罪を分類し、測定に使用する罪種を決定する基準とした。研究2では被害に遭う確率の推定が、研究3では被害に遭った際のダメージの大きさの推定が犯罪不安の原因となるか検討した。研究4では防犯対策の告知が犯罪不安を高めるか検討した。 / 博士(心理学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

A prolonged siting controversy for a uranium enrichment facility has occurred in the Town of Unicoi, Tennessee. One hundred-seventy residents of Unicoi were interviewed using a questionnaire regarding the building of a proposed uranium enrichment facility for Unicoi. The questionnaire sought to determine relationships between residents’ risk perceptions and 18 variables. When the Fisher’s exact procedure was applied at α< 0.05, the results indicated several associations. Odds ratio measured the strength of association. Results are reported as crude measures of association. Risk perceptions were influenced by the choice of possible locations for the facility [p=0.0003; OR=32.6]. Residents' risk perceptions were associated with a history of working with nuclear materials [p=0.0476; OR=3.2]. Finally, risk perceptions were associated with residents' beliefs that the nuclear facility would affect their health [p=0.0001; OR=18.8]. These results are discussed in light of risk perception and communication theories.

[pt] O uso de substâncias durante a gestação não possui limiares seguros, é altamente associado com aborto e mortalidade da mãe e do filho, além de outros desfechos negativos de curto, médio e longo prazo. Assim, esta dissertação visa contribuir para a compreensão douso de substâncias durante a gravidez. O ARTIGO 1 é uma tradução e adaptação de uma medida para a avaliação da percepção de risco ao uso de substâncias. De forma geral a medida possibilitou associar idades mais precoces de uso de substâncias com menor percepção de risco, bem como diferenciar usuários regulares de substâncias de não usuários, com os primeiros apresentando menor percepção de risco de forma geral. Comparando mulheres não-nulíparas com e sem história de uso de substâncias na gravidez, observamos que a percepção de risco do uso de substâncias de forma geral foi o principal preditor do uso de substâncias durante a gravidez, além do conhecimento sobre os perigos para o desenvolvi-mento do feto relacionados ao consumo de maconha e álcool.os resultados sugerem quetalvez mais importante do que o trabalho preventivo com gestantes isoladamente, investir na promoção da percepção da substância em um estágio inicial é uma estratégia mais eficaz para prevenir o uso de substâncias durante a gestação. / [en] Substance use during pregnancy has no safe thresholds, is highly associated with abortion and maternal and child mortality, in addition to other short, medium, and long-term negative outcomes. Thus, this dissertation aims to contribute to the understanding of substance use during pregnancy. ARTICLE 1 is a translation and adaptation of a measure for the assessment of risk perception of substance use. In general, the measure made it possible to associate earlier ages of substance use with a lower perception of risk, as well as to differentiate regular users of substances from non-users, with the former presenting a lower perception of risk in general. Comparing non-nulliparous women with and without a history of substance use during pregnancy, we observed that the perception of risk of substance use in general was the main predictor of substance use during pregnancy, in addition to knowledge about the dangers for development. The results suggest that perhaps more important than preventive work with pregnant women alone, investing in promoting substance awareness at an early stage is a more effective strategy to prevent substance use during pregnancy.

This narrative ethnography is based on seven years of research collaboration with the Walpole Island First Nation (WIFN). The study focuses on local perceptions of risk as they relate to ecosystem integrity, human health and well-being. Discourse analysis of generic and nuanced community narratives reveals diverse yet complementary situated knowledge that are firmly rooted in Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) cultural teachings, values and practices. Gerald Ryle and Clifford Geertz's conceptualization of thin and thick description is used to parse out the various components of what I've identified as a community genre of toxic talk. Within this model, thin description refers to observations of the surface metamorphoses of the physical environment through pollution and other anthropogenic changes. Thick description emerging from the analysis of elegies and echoes of loss and discourses of resistance illuminates the discursive tactics employed by community members to resist Western frameworks of risk analysis and re-situate the topic of environmental health within the wider interpretive matrix of structural violence. A proposed Shell refinery expansion project is used as an example of how WIFN actively mobilizes discourses via oral tradition in the struggle for environmental justice. Through the strategic use of toxic talk, the community draws attention to environmental issues while simultaneously laying bare to a wider, non-Native audience the historical scaffolding of Native issues that are part and parcel of contemporary environmental crises and their effective mediation and resolution. The 'discursive movement' from elegies and echoes of loss to discourses of resistance reframes Walpole Island residents from those who are defined by survivorship to those who embody and evoke a spirit of survivance. The dissertation concludes with a semiotic critique of the Western medical terms chemophobia and risk perception. This leads to the advancement of toxic talk as an alternative framework for acquiring a more politicized, historicized and humanized understanding of environmental concerns at Wal pole Island. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In a time where crises are more present, risk communication plays an important role in equipping citizens with information and knowledge on how to prepare themselves. This study examines how citizens in the municipality Strängnäs perceive and interpret the municipality's risk communication, particularly focused on the information folder "Be prepared for a crisis or social disturbance". Through two focus group interviews, eight citizens of different ages have participated to discuss the content of the folder and reflect on topics such as crises and home preparedness. The study's theoretical framework is based on Ulrich Beck's theory of risk society and protection motivation theory, as well as previous research in areas such as risk communication and risk perception. The results show that the folder is generally perceived positively by the participants of the study, though there are some differences such as preferences on the amount of text and design which could be explained by their different coping styles. The results emphasize the folders’ significant role in making citizens more aware of their own home preparedness. Despite the concern about crises being higher today, the concern does not necessarily correspond to the participants level of preparedness which can be understood by a lack of motivation or an excessive trust in others. The research provides valuable insights to enhance the municipality's risk communication, aiming to raise awareness and preparedness levels among citizens. However, it is important to note that the results of the study are specific to the limited group of participants and require further research to be able to be generalized and understood in a wider context of risk communication.