The effect of social trust on citizens’ health risk perception in the context of a petrochemical industrial complex

Social Media Sentiment about COVID-19 Vaccination Predicts Vaccine Acceptance among Peruvian Social Media Users the Next Day

Drawing upon theories of risk and decision making, we present a theoretical framework for how the emotional attributes of social media content influence risk behaviors. We apply our framework to understanding how COVID-19 vaccination Twitter posts influence acceptance of the vaccine in Peru, the country with the highest relative number of COVID-19 excess deaths. By employing computational methods, topic modeling, and vector autoregressive time series analysis, we show that the prominence of expressed emotions about COVID-19 vaccination in social media content is associated with the daily percentage of Peruvian social media survey respondents who are vaccine-accepting over 231 days. Our findings show that net (positive) sentiment and trust emotions expressed in tweets about COVID-19 are positively associated with vaccine acceptance among survey respondents one day after the post occurs. This study demonstrates that the emotional attributes of social media content, besides veracity or informational attributes, may influence vaccine acceptance for better or worse based on its valence.

Effects of perceived stress on public acceptance of waste incineration projects: evidence from three cities in China

Public acceptance is important for the provision of potentially hazardous facilities and may be affected by many factors such as perceived risk/benefit/stress/fairness and public trust. In this study, the underlying mechanism behind the influence of perceived stress on public acceptance of waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerators was explored by structural equation modeling of a face-to-face questionnaire survey of 1066 urban residents in three regional central cities in China. The results indicate that, firstly, the perceived stress of the laypeople has an impact on their acceptance by influencing risk/fairness they perceived and public trust. Secondly, the paths of influence of individual perceptions on acceptance differ between cities with different economic, cultural, and social characteristics. Perceived stress mainly affects public acceptance through perceived risk in the eastern residents while perceived stress mainly affects public acceptance through public trust in the western residents. The findings clarify the theoretical role of perceived stress in shaping laypeople's acceptance of potentially hazardous facilities which are of value for both governments and owners in siting potentially hazardous facilities.

Perceived coronavirus health risk associated with students' life satisfaction: the role of trust in government policies

This study investigates whether trust in government policies has a mediation effect between the students' perception of COVID-19 health risk and their life satisfaction. In order to test the mediation effect, this study utilizes data collected from undergraduate students at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico by means of online survey. The survey yielded 95 usable data out of 97. The valid results were tested via generalized linear model (GLM) Mediation approach for the mediation. Empirical findings of Delta method affirm the mediation (estimate = 0.4445, β = 0.474, z = 3.699, p < .001) role of trust in government as a mediator between students' perception of COVID-19 health risk and their life satisfaction. In other words, Mexican undergraduate students are of the view that trusting government plays a crucial role as a mediator between their perception of coronavirus health risk and life satisfaction. These findings may guide the governments' policy making efforts and motivate them to support their initiatives with trust-building efforts.

Risk perception and mental health among college students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation model

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, it has spread on a large scale around the world, seriously affecting people's physical and mental health. In China, almost all schools have postponed semesters, suspended offline classes, and implemented closed-off management, which has brought significant challenges to the study and life of college students. The study aimed to explore the relationship between risk perception, perceived stress, perceived control, and mental health among Chinese college students. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,856 college students. The results showed that risk perception was positively correlated with mental health. After adding the mediating variable of perceived stress, risk perception still significantly predicted mental health. In addition, the interaction term of perceived stress and perceived control significantly negatively predicted mental health. Specifically, perceived stress significantly affected mental health in the low-perceived control group. In contrast, in the high-perceived control group, the predictive effect of perceived stress on mental health disappeared. The present study showed that perceived stress partially mediated the relationship between risk perception and mental health; perceived control moderated the relationship between perceived stress and mental health, and high perceived control could buffer the effect of perceived stress on mental health.

Distributive justice in environmental health hazards from industrial contamination: A systematic review of national and near-national assessments of social inequalities

Communities where polluting human activities are sited often show disadvantage in terms of social and economic variables. Environmental distributive justice studies seek to identify common characteristics in exposed populations and highlight the presence of environmental inequalities. We have conducted a review of the existing literature about justice in the distribution of health hazards from industrial pollution. We included papers investigating associations between social disadvantage and contamination through assessments at national or macro-area level. From each study we extracted: indicators for the social determinants of exposed communities (classified according to PROGRESS-plus categories); definition and measurement of environmental hazard (as either proximity to contamination sources, exposure to emissions or health impacts from pollutants); study design and methods; significant results. We retrieved 45 eligible articles. Most publications were from USA and had a nationwide scope with data at municipal/sub-municipal scale. Socioeconomic position and race/ethnicity were the social determinants most often explored, followed by occupation and education; air pollution was the commonest sort of contamination, while proximity prevailed as measurement of hazard. All papers found significant associations between social dimensions and health hazard from industrial contamination: the majority of associations supported an increased burden on vulnerable categories, especially ethnic minorities and unemployed - however, several relationships were found in the opposite direction or in both ways, particularly with wealth and education, reflecting a mixed reality where potential discrimination in siting decisions coexists with socioeconomic benefits for nearby communities due to industrial development. Assessments of environmental distributive justice are lacking in most countries and those that are conducted show vast methodological heterogeneity. We recommend consistency in models and indicators, the inclusion of female-led households among indicators of social disadvantage, and the adoption of a small scale to elicit significant findings and provide meaningful policy action.

Effect of Institutional Trust on Consumers' Health and Safety Perceptions and Repurchase Intention for Traceable Fresh Food

Numerous food safety incidents have gained public attention and motivated consumers to seek safer and healthier products. Some governments have responded by enacting legislation to regulate the traceability of agricultural products and enhance food safety. To elucidate factors that affect consumers’ health and safety perceptions and repurchase intention for certified traceable fresh food, this study applied institutional trust theory to explore the effects of institutional trust (i.e., trust in government, certification organizations, producers, and retailers) on consumers’ food safety and health perceptions and repurchase intention. This study was conducted in Taiwan and enrolled 393 consumers who purchased certified traceable fresh food as survey participants. Structural equation modeling and multiple and stepwise regression analysis were performed for data analysis. The results indicated that trust in government, certification organizations, food producers, and food retailers was positively related to food safety perception; trust in certification organizations, food producers, and food retailers directly influenced food healthiness perception, whereas trust in government did not have a direct influence. Furthermore, trust in certification organizations and food producers influenced repurchase intention, whereas trust in government and food retailers did not. Based on these results, the current study provides some practical suggestions for traceable fresh food marketers to use institutional trust to improve consumers’ food health and safety perceptions and repurchase intention.

Perceived Risk in the Population Living near the Turin Incinerator: Comparison between before and at Three Years of Operation

When the Turin incinerator went into operation in 2013, it was accompanied by surveillance of health effects that included a human biomonitoring survey of 394 residents. They responded to items investigating their awareness of environmental and health issues and perception of environmental health risks. In this study, we compared the questionnaire responses before plant startup and at 3 years of operation. To accomplish this, we investigated changes in perceived risk and evaluated the efficacy of communication strategies. A total of 344 participants equally distributed in an exposed and an unexposed group responded to the follow-up questionnaire. Survey items investigated the perception of a relationship between illness and exposure to environmental pollution, feeling at risk of developing an illness, and concern about natural and anthropogenic hazards. The proportion of 'certain' and 'very probable' responses was compared to the total using the difference-in-differences method. Analyses showed an overall decrease in the differences between the two groups, which suggests that the communication actions undertaken for the exposed group were effective. Future communication plans should also include initiatives targeting the unexposed group.

The Effects of Epistemic Trust and Social Trust on Public Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food: An Empirical Study from China

Most studies exploring the public acceptance of genetically modified food (GMF) are based on social trust and the establishment of a causal model. The underlying premise is that social trust indirectly affects public acceptance of GMF through perceived risks and perceived benefits. The object of social trust is trust in people, organizations, and institutions. Different from the social trust, epistemic trust refers to people's trust in scientific knowledge behind the technology of concern. It has been shown that epistemic trust, like social trust, is also an important factor that affects the public perception of applicable risks and benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to incorporate epistemic trust into the causal model to derive a more complete explanation of public acceptance. However, such work has not been conducted to date. The causal model proposed in this paper integrated epistemic trust and social trust and divided social trust into trust in public organizations and trust in industrial organizations. A representative questionnaire survey (N = 1091) was conducted with Chinese adults. The model was analyzed by the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Three major findings were obtained: First, epistemic trust is an important antecedent of perceived risks and perceived benefits and exerts a significant indirect effect on the acceptance of GMF. Secondly, trust in industrial organizations negatively impacts perceived risks, while trust in public organizations positively impacts perceived benefits. Thirdly, contrary to the common opinion, trust in industrial organizations did not exert a significant direct effect on perceived benefits, and trust in public organizations did not demonstrate a significant direct effect on perceived risks. Therefore, trust in industrial organizations and trust in public organizations utilize different influence paths on GMF acceptance. This study enriches the understanding of the influence path of trust with regard to the acceptance of emerging technologies and is of great significance to relevant risk-management practices.

How do perceived CPA and political CSR interact in their relationships with citizens’ trust in companies?

Purpose

In the context of an industrial complex where corporate political activity (CPA) and political corporate social responsibility (political CSR) are not related, this study aims to investigate the possible relationship between citizens’ perceptions of these two non-market strategies and residents’ trust in companies located in the industrial complex.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 740 citizens living near a petrochemical complex in Tarragona (Spain). The results were analysed using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Based on institutional theory, the key findings of the study are that CPA and political CSR are differently related to citizens’ trust in companies. The results also verify that the negative relationship (between CPA and trust) outweighs the positive one (between political CSR and trust).

Practical implications

The lack of fit between political CSR and CPA in the complex analysed suggests that firms are neglecting approaches shared by these non-market strategies, and thus wasting a huge opportunity to improve citizens’ trust in and acceptance of the complex firms. Moreover, the ethical dimension should always be present when these firms take on political responsibilities.

Originality/value

To date, CPA and political CSR have largely been dealt with separately in the literature. This study attempted to bridge this gap by examining a situation where there is no strategic relationship between CPA and political CSR to analyse, from the perspective of citizens’ perceptions, the relationship each strategy has with the important academic concept of citizens’ trust in companies.

Risks and burden of lung cancer incidence for residential petrochemical industrial complexes: A meta-analysis and application

BACKGROUND

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Higher incidence of lung cancer may be associated with residential proximity to a petrochemical industrial complex (PIC) due to exposure to various carcinogens, although results from previous epidemiologic studies remain inconclusive. Because disease burden due to residential inequality is a public health and societal concern, this study analyzed published data to estimate lung cancer incidence in association with residential proximity to PICs.

METHODS

We performed a meta-analysis on selected epidemiologic studies that met the following criteria: lung cancer incidence was coded by the International Classification of Diseases; exposure groups were clearly defined as residents living near PICs; and confidence intervals were available or calculable from original articles. We further applied a population attributable factor (PAF) method to estimate disease burden attributable to living near PICs in 22 European Union (EU) countries.

RESULTS

Meta-analysis included six studies with a total of 466,066 residents living near PICs in six countries. Residents living near PICs had a 19% higher risk of lung cancer compared to those who lived farther away (95% CI = 1.06-1.32). By sex, risks were higher and more significant for females (RR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.09-1.54; P = 0.004) than males (RR = 1.12; 95% CI = 0.95-1.33; P = 0.173). By location, only groups in Europe had a significantly greater risk of lung cancer with exposure to PICs (95% CI = 1.03-1.33; P = 0.019), although groups in other locations showed similar trends. By bona fide observation, observation of residents for at least seven years provided sufficient latency to estimate risk (RR = 1.25; 95% CI = 1.17-1.34; P < 0.001). Regarding burden of lung cancer in 22 EU countries, 494 males and 478 females were attributed to living in the vicinity of a PIC annually.

CONCLUSIONS

Lung cancer incidence is significantly higher in individuals living near PICs. This result provides strong epidemiologic evidence for further policy to regulate potential pollutants near PICs.

HIGHLIGHTS

Higher incident rates of lung cancer for residents living close to petrochemical industry complex.

Modeling contamination conditions in small-scale industrial areas to estimate health savings benefits associated with remediation

Mercury and dioxin pollution associated with the China Petrochemical Development Corporation's An-shun plant is one of the most severe soil contamination incidents in Taiwan's history. Residents living nearby were exposed to heavy metals and dioxins that led to significant impacts on human health and safety. While many studies related to contamination in large-scale industrial areas have been conducted to evaluate the effects of occupational contaminant exposure, studies related to people who live near small-scale industry areas are less common. In this study, we use the system dynamics modeling to build a media flow pattern for mercury and dioxin in the vicinity of the An-shun plant, simulate the concentrations of the pollutants before and after remediation, and compare the simulated values with the measurements of actual conditions after remediation to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of the model. This study also estimated the concentration of mercury and dioxin in each food medium to simulate the daily exposure of the human body to these contaminants. Finally, the reduction in mercury and dioxin levels in the study area was used to estimate the total health benefits to the local population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the application of this methodology to small-scale industrial areas as well as improve the decision-making process before, during, and after remediation of contaminated sites. The results of this study revealed the health benefits to residents living in the Annan District after remediation was completed at the An-shun plant were significant.

Residents’ trust predicting attitudes towards infill development

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse what constitutes trust for residents in the infill development context, who are the targets of trust, and does residents’ trust predict their attitudes towards infill development.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were carried out. A qualitative study in three housing developments was followed by a quantitative study with 906 respondents in the Helsinki area, Finland.

Findings

Four stakeholders relevant to the residents’ trust were identified: the board of housing development, the housing manager, city planners, and construction companies. Three dimensions were found to constitute residents’ trust in these stakeholders (competence, benevolence and integrity). Furthermore, analyses revealed that trust in city planners and construction companies significantly predicted residents’ attitudes towards infill development.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study have implications on the management of the infill development process. More attention should be paid to how residents’ perceptions of trust towards the other stakeholders are formed in order to facilitate successful infill projects. The quantitative study was carried out in different residential areas. Based on this study, the authors were not able to analyse whether and how the characteristics of the residential areas might influence the results, which represents a limitation of this study.

Originality/value

This paper provides in-depth insights into the role of trust in explaining residents’ attitudes towards infill development. Previous research devoted to the topic is scarce, neglects residents’ perspectives and lacks empirical evidence. The discussions are mainly contemplation based on case examples. No previous studies have explicitly studied the significance of trust with large samples.

Combined and Relative Effect Levels of Perceived Risk, Knowledge, Optimism, Pessimism, and Social Trust on Anxiety among Inhabitants Concerning Living on Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil

This research aims at combined and relative effect levels on anxiety of: (1) perceived risk, knowledge, optimism, pessimism, and social trust; and (2) four sub-variables of social trust among inhabitants concerning living on heavy metal contaminated soil. On the basis of survey data from 499 Chinese respondents, results suggest that perceived risk, pessimism, optimism, and social trust have individual, significant, and direct effects on anxiety, while knowledge does not. Knowledge has significant, combined, and interactive effects on anxiety together with social trust and pessimism, respectively, but does not with perceived risk and optimism. Social trust, perceived risk, pessimism, knowledge, and optimism have significantly combined effects on anxiety; the five variables as a whole have stronger predictive values than each one individually. Anxiety is influenced firstly by social trust and secondly by perceived risk, pessimism, knowledge, and optimism. Each of four sub-variables of social trust has an individual, significant, and negative effect on anxiety. When introducing four sub-variables into one model, trust in social organizations and in the government have significantly combined effects on anxiety, while trust in experts and in friends and relatives do not; anxiety is influenced firstly by trust in social organization, and secondly by trust in the government.

Place-based stressors associated with industry and air pollution

Exposure to air pollution and its sources is increasingly viewed as a psychosocial stress, however its nature is not understood. This article explores the role of the concept of place on risk perception and community stress within data collected from eight focus groups in Philadelphia, USA. Discussions focused on air pollution, a nearby oil refinery, health, and a proposal for air monitoring. We present a framework of place-based elements of risk perception that includes place identity, stigma and social control. Our findings indicate that air pollution contributes to physical and psychosocial conditions that act as community-level social stressors. Findings also suggest that programs which seek to change behaviors and gather or spread information on issues such as pollution and other environmental concerns will be challenged unless they directly address: (1) the public׳s identification with a place or industry, (2) immediate environmental stressors such as abandonment, waste and odors, and (3) public perceptions of lack of social control and fear of displacement.

Evaluating determinants of environmental risk perception for risk management in contaminated sites

Understanding the differences in the risk judgments of residents of industrial communities potentially provides insights into how to develop appropriate risk communication strategies. This study aimed to explore citizens’ fundamental understanding of risk-related judgments and to identify the factors contributing to perceived risks. An exploratory model was created to investigate the public’s risk judgments. In this model, the relationship between laypeople’s perceived risks and the factors related to the physical nature of risks (such as perceived probability of environmental contamination, probability of receiving impacts, and severity of catastrophic consequences) were examined by means of multiple regression analysis. Psychological factors, such as the ability to control the risks, concerns, experiences, and perceived benefits of industrial development were also included in the analysis. The Maptaphut industrial area in Rayong Province, Thailand was selected as a case study. A survey of 181 residents of communities experiencing different levels of hazardous gas contamination revealed rational risk judgments by inhabitants of high-risk and moderate-risk communities, based on their perceived probability of contamination, probability of receiving impacts, and perceived catastrophic consequences. However, risks assessed by people in low-risk communities could not be rationally explained and were influenced by their collective experiences.

The "trust" heuristic: arguments from authority in public health

The work of public health depends on a relationship of trust between health workers and members of the public. This relationship is one in which the public must trust the advice of health experts, even if that advice is not always readily understood or judged to be agreeable. However, it will be argued in this article that the pact of trust between public health workers and members of the public has been steadily eroded over many years. The reasons for this erosion are examined as are attempts to characterize the concept of trust in empirical studies. The discussion then considers how a so-called informal fallacy, known as the "argument from authority," might contribute to attempts to understand the trust relationship between the public and health experts. Specifically, this argument enables the lay person to bridge gaps in knowledge and arrive at judgements about public health problems by attending to certain logical and epistemic features of expertise. The extent to which lay people are able to discern these features is considered by examining the results of a study of public health reasoning in 879 members of the public.

Annoyance and worry in a petrochemical industrial area--prevalence, time trends and risk indicators

In 1992, 1998, and 2006, questionnaires were sent to stratified samples of residents aged 18–75 years living near petrochemical industries (n = 600–800 people on each occasion) and in a control area (n = 200–1,000). The aims were to estimate the long-term prevalence and change over time of annoyance caused by industrial odour, industrial noise, and worries about possible health effects, and to identify risk indicators. In 2006, 20% were annoyed by industrial odour, 27% by industrial noise (1–4% in the control area), and 40–50% were worried about health effects or industrial accidents (10–20% in the control area). Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed significantly lower prevalence of odour annoyance in 1998 and 2006 than in 1992, while industrial noise annoyance increased significantly over time. The prevalence of worry remained constant. Risk of odour annoyance increased with female sex, worry of health effects, annoyance by motor vehicle exhausts and industrial noise. Industrial noise annoyance was associated with traffic noise annoyance and worry of health effects of traffic. Health-risk worry due to industrial air pollution was associated with female sex, having children, annoyance due to dust/soot in the air, and worry of traffic air pollution.