The public's preparedness: Self-reliance, flashbulb memories, and conservative values

M.R. Greenberg, S. Dyen and S. Elliott

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 6, e85-e91

Abstract: Objectives. We surveyed how many US residents engaged in 6 preparedness activities and measured the relationship between engagement and personal experience in hazard events, flashbulb memories of major events, self-reliance, and other indicators of a conservative philosophy. Methods. We used random digit dialing for national landline (75%) and cell phone (25%) surveys of 1930 US residents from July 6, 2011, to September 9, 2011; 1080 of the sample lived near 6 US Department of Energy nuclear waste management facilities and 850 were a national random sample. Results. The median respondent engaged in 3 of the 6 activities; those who disproportionately engaged in 4 or more had experienced a hazard event, had distressing and strong flashbulb memories of major hazard events, and had strong feelings about the need for greater self-reliance. The results for the national and US Department of Energy site-specific surveys were almost identical. Conclusions. A cadre of US residents are disproportionately engaged in disaster preparedness, and they typically have stronger negative memories of past disasters and tend to be self-reliant. How their efforts can or should be integrated into local preparedness efforts is unclear.

Keywords: adolescent; adult; aged; article; civil defense; disaster; earthquake; female; human; hurricane; information processing; male; memory; middle aged; oil spill; personal autonomy; politics; statistics; terrorism; tsunami; United States, Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Civil Defense; Cyclonic Storms; Data Collection; Disasters; Earthquakes; Female; Humans; Male; Memory; Middle Aged; Personal Autonomy; Petroleum Pollution; Politics; September 11 Terrorist Attacks; Tsunamis; United States; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.301198_9

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301198

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