School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Penrith NSW DC2751, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Oct 12;11:797. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-797.
Previous Australian research has highlighted disparities in community perceptions of the threat posed by terrorism. A study with a large sample size is needed to examine reported concerns and anticipated responses of community sub-groups and to determine their consistency with existing Australian and international findings.
Representative samples of New South Wales (NSW) adults completed terrorism perception questions as part of computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) in 2007 (N = 2081) and 2010 (N = 2038). Responses were weighted against the NSW population. Data sets from the two surveys were pooled and multivariate multilevel analyses conducted to identify health and socio-demographic factors associated with higher perceived risk of terrorism and evacuation response intentions, and to examine changes over time.
In comparison with 2007, Australians in 2010 were significantly more likely to believe that a terrorist attack would occur in Australia (Adjusted Odd Ratios (AOR) = 1.24, 95%CI:1.06-1.45) but felt less concerned that they would be directly affected by such an incident (AOR = 0.65, 95%CI:0.55-0.75). Higher perceived risk of terrorism and related changes in living were associated with middle age, female gender, lower education and higher reported psychological distress. Australians of migrant background reported significantly lower likelihood of terrorism (AOR = 0.52, 95%CI:0.39-0.70) but significantly higher concern that they would be personally affected by such an incident (AOR = 1.57, 95%CI:1.21-2.04) and having made changes in the way they live due to this threat (AOR = 2.47, 95%CI:1.88-3.25). Willingness to evacuate homes and public places in response to potential incidents increased significantly between 2007 and 2010 (AOR = 1.53, 95%CI:1.33-1.76).
While an increased proportion of Australians believe that the national threat of terrorism remains high, concern about being personally affected has moderated and may reflect habituation to this threat. Key sub-groups remain disproportionately concerned, notably those with lower education and migrant groups. The dissonance observed in findings relating to Australians of migrant background appears to reflect wider socio-cultural concerns associated with this issue. Disparities in community concerns regarding terrorism-related threat require active policy consideration and specific initiatives to reduce the vulnerabilities of known risk groups, particularly in the aftermath of future incidents.
先前的澳大利亚研究强调了社区对恐怖主义威胁的看法存在差异。需要进行一项具有较大样本量的研究，以检查社区亚群体的报告关注和预期反应，并确定其与澳大利亚和国际现有研究结果的一致性。
新南威尔士州（新南威尔士州）成年人的代表性样本在 2007 年（N = 2081）和 2010 年（N = 2038）的计算机辅助电话访谈（CATI）中完成了恐怖主义感知问题。响应被加权以适应新南威尔士州的人口。对两个调查的数据进行了合并，并进行了多变量多层次分析，以确定与更高的恐怖主义感知风险和疏散反应意图相关的健康和社会人口因素，并检查随时间的变化。
与 2007 年相比，2010 年的澳大利亚人更有可能相信恐怖袭击将在澳大利亚发生（调整后的优势比（AOR）= 1.24，95％CI：1.06-1.45），但对直接受到此类事件的影响的担忧较小（AOR = 0.65，95％CI：0.55-0.75）。更高的恐怖主义感知风险和相关的生活变化与中年，女性，较低的教育程度和较高的报告心理困扰有关。具有移民背景的澳大利亚人报告称，恐怖主义的可能性明显降低（AOR = 0.52，95％CI：0.39-0.70），但他们个人受到此类事件影响的可能性明显增加（AOR = 1.57，95％CI：1.21-2.04），并且由于这种威胁而改变了他们的生活方式（AOR = 2.47，95％CI：1.88-3.25）。在 2007 年至 2010 年间，人们愿意因潜在事件而撤离家园和公共场所的意愿显著增加（AOR = 1.53，95％CI：1.33-1.76）。
虽然越来越多的澳大利亚人认为国家面临的恐怖主义威胁仍然很高，但对个人受到影响的担忧有所缓和，这可能反映了对这一威胁的习惯化。关键的亚群体仍然格外关注，特别是教育程度较低和移民群体。与移民背景的澳大利亚人有关的发现中的这种差异似乎反映了与该问题相关的更广泛的社会文化问题。社区对与恐怖主义相关的威胁的关注差异需要积极的政策考虑和具体举措，以减少已知风险群体的脆弱性，特别是在未来事件发生后。
