ArticleBritish journal of health psychology2018
Don't know responses to cognitive and affective risk perception measures: Exploring prevalence and socio-demographic moderators.
Article in British journal of health psychology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- An Investigation on Integral Emotions as Parallel Predictors for Risky Financial Behavior.PsyCh journal · 2026Article
- Worldview Orientations and Personal and Social Risk Perceptions for COVID-19 in a U.S. Population-Based Sample.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2023Article
- Dismissing "Don't Know" Responses to Perceived Risk Survey Items Threatens the Validity of Theoretical and Empirical Behavior-Change Research.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2022Article
- Managing the Consequences of Oncological Major Surgery: A Short- and Medium-Term Skills Assessment Proposal for Patient and Caregiver through M.A.D.I.T. Methodology.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Assessment of Knowledge, Perceptions and Perceived Risk Concerning COVID-19 in Pakistan.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2021Article
- Physical activity: the relative associations with cognitive and affective risk beliefs.Psychology & health · 2019Article
- Specifying Future Behavior When Assessing Risk Perceptions: Implications for Measurement and Theory.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2019Article
- Knowledge of and beliefs about palliative care in a nationally-representative U.S. sample.PloS one · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesMany people report uncertainty when appraising their risk of cancer and other diseases, but prior research about the topic has focused solely on cognitive risk perceptions. We investigated uncertainty related to cognitive and affective risk questions. We also explored whether any differences in uncertainty between cognitive and affective questions varied in magnitude by item-specific or socio-demographic characteristics.
designSecondary analysis of data collected for a 2 × 2 × 3 full-factorial risk communication experiment (N = 835) that was embedded within an online survey.
methodsWe investigated the frequency of 'don't know' responses (DKR) to eight perceived risk items that varied according to whether they assessed (1) cognitive versus affective perceived risk, (2) absolute versus comparative risk, and (3) colon cancer versus 'any exercise-related diseases'. Socio-demographics were as follows: sex, age, education, family history, and numeracy. We analysed the data using multilevel logistic regression.
resultsThe odds of DKR were lower for affective than cognitive perceived risk (OR = 0.64, p < .001). This difference occurred for absolute but not comparative risk perceptions (interaction effect, p = .004), but no interactions for disease type or demographic characteristics were found (ps > .05).
conclusionsLower uncertainty for affective (vs. cognitive) absolute perceived risk items is consistent with research stating: (1) Risk perceptions are grounded in people's feelings about a hazard, and (2) feelings are easier for people to access than facts. Including affective perceived risk items in health behaviour surveys may reduce missing data and improve data quality. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Many people report that they don't know their risk (i.e., risk uncertainty). Evidence is growing for the importance of feelings of risk in explaining health behaviour. Feelings are easier for people to access than facts. What does this study add? Don't know responding is higher for absolute cognitive than absolute affective risk questions. This difference does not vary in magnitude by demographic characteristics. Affective perceived risk questions in surveys may reduce missing data and improve data quality.
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