The current study aims to investigate the factors influencing the perception of environmental risk, paying special attention to the emotional aspects which mediate the relation individual-environment. We conducted a research in a community from Piedmont (Italy) exposed to both natural and man-made risks. Two-hundred and twenty-nine subjects (aged 18-77 years) filled up a questionnaire designed to investigate the emotions experienced with respect to the territory, knowledge of environmental hazard, risk perception, perception of control on calamitous events, and previous disaster experiences. Overall, the emotions most frequently reported by participants were serenity and joy. The risks most frequently known included fires, problems related to the realization of high speed train, and landslides. For the majority of environmental hazards threatening the investigated territory, perception of control was higher than perception of risk. Moreover, regression analysis showed that risk perception was significantly predicted by the knowledge of risk, frequency of negative emotions, and length of residence in the community. In the conclusions, the authors interpret their results in relation to the socio-environmental characteristics of the studied community. Theoretical and empirical implications of the findings are also discussed.
La percezione del rischio ambientale: un’indagine in un comune della Valle di Susa
GALATI, Dario;FASSIO, Omar Felice;
2008-01-01
Abstract
The current study aims to investigate the factors influencing the perception of environmental risk, paying special attention to the emotional aspects which mediate the relation individual-environment. We conducted a research in a community from Piedmont (Italy) exposed to both natural and man-made risks. Two-hundred and twenty-nine subjects (aged 18-77 years) filled up a questionnaire designed to investigate the emotions experienced with respect to the territory, knowledge of environmental hazard, risk perception, perception of control on calamitous events, and previous disaster experiences. Overall, the emotions most frequently reported by participants were serenity and joy. The risks most frequently known included fires, problems related to the realization of high speed train, and landslides. For the majority of environmental hazards threatening the investigated territory, perception of control was higher than perception of risk. Moreover, regression analysis showed that risk perception was significantly predicted by the knowledge of risk, frequency of negative emotions, and length of residence in the community. In the conclusions, the authors interpret their results in relation to the socio-environmental characteristics of the studied community. Theoretical and empirical implications of the findings are also discussed.
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