Psychology Department, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
Risk Anal. 2024 Jun;44(6):1339-1356. doi: 10.1111/risa.14243. Epub 2023 Oct 23.
People who believe they have greater control over health and longevity are typically more likely to invest in their long-term health. Investigating individual differences in perceived control over risk and exploring different determinants of health effort may help to tailor health promotion programs to more effectively encourage healthy behaviors. From a sample of 1500 adults, we measured perceived control over 20 causes of death, overall perceived uncontrollable mortality risk (PUMR), state-level optimism, self-reported health effort, and the accuracy of estimations of avoidable deaths. We found individual differences in perceptions of control over specific causes of death based on age, gender, and income. PUMR was predicted by socioeconomic variables expected to influence exposure to risk and resource availability. Higher levels of PUMR, not perceptions of control over specific causes of death, predicted self-reported health effort. The strength of relationship between PUMR and lower health effort was not moderated by state-level optimism. Age and education both positively predicted greater accuracy in assessing the prevalence of avoidable deaths. We suggest that PUMR may capture people's "general sense" of mortality risk, influenced by both exposure to hazards and the availability of resources to avoid threats. Conversely, perceived control over specific risks may involve more deliberate, considered appraisals of risk. This general sense of risk is thought to play a more notable role in determining health behaviors than specific assessments of control over risk. Further study is needed to investigate the degree to which PUMR accurately reflects objective measures of individual risk.
相信自己能更好地控制健康和长寿的人通常更有可能投资于自己的长期健康。调查对风险的感知控制的个体差异，并探索健康努力的不同决定因素，可能有助于使健康促进计划更有效地鼓励健康行为。我们从 1500 名成年人的样本中测量了对 20 种死因的控制感、总体不可控死亡率风险（PUMR）、州级乐观程度、自我报告的健康努力以及可避免死亡的估计准确性。我们发现，对特定死因的控制感存在个体差异，这取决于年龄、性别和收入。PUMR 由预计会影响风险暴露和资源可用性的社会经济变量预测。更高的 PUMR 水平，而不是对特定死因的控制感，预测了自我报告的健康努力。PUMR 与较低健康努力之间的关系强度不受州级乐观程度的调节。年龄和教育都正向预测对可避免死亡的普遍性的更准确评估。我们认为，PUMR 可能会捕捉到人们对死亡率风险的“总体感觉”，这种感觉受到风险暴露和避免威胁的资源可用性的影响。相反，对特定风险的感知控制可能涉及对风险的更刻意、深思熟虑的评估。这种普遍的风险感被认为比对风险的特定控制感更能显著影响健康行为。需要进一步研究以调查 PUMR 准确反映个体风险的客观程度的程度。
