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Effects of Social Influence and Measured Exposure Level on Response to Radon *
Author(s) -
Mazur Allan,
Hall Glenn S.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1990.tb00145.x
Subject(s) - radon , respondent , hazard , radon exposure , health hazard , mass media , hazard model , environmental hazard , environmental health , sociology , psychology , geography , social psychology , econometrics , political science , business , mathematics , medicine , advertising , law , physics , nuclear physics , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology
The eclectic theoretical model presented indicates that responses to hazards are affected by friends, the mass media, and by the measured level of exposure to the hazard. This model guides the analysis of survey data garnered from a New York State county whose residents were offered free tests to determine the level of radon in their homes. Results indicate that measured radon level is consistently correlated with specific responses to a direct threat of radon on one's home, whereas the influence of family or the mass media have little effect. The situation is reversed when radon is regarded as a diffuse hazard without specific reference to the respondent's own home.