Abstract
The public will probably play a major role in determining future programs to combat air pollution. Thus, a major task in any community is to stimulate public acceptance of the responsibility to take some kind of action. This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes of a metropolitan population toward air pollution and to attempt to measure in a crude way that public's willingness to take action.
Data were collected by personal interview from 562 adult respondents living in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is surrounded by lofty mountains. High pressure areas frequently form an inversion which holds the air on the valley floor. The air quickly becomes polluted when it cannot escape.
A health behavior model, formulated by Irwin Rosenstock, was used as a frame of reference in determining how residents perceive the pollution problem and its probable consequences in relation to their health.
Willingness to donate money from one's own resources in an effort to reduce the problem was used as a measure of concern. Those most willing to donate money to combat air pollution were residents who perceived air pollution to be a serious problem in this community; who were personally bothered by it; who were concerned for their family's health, and who had confidence that the problem could be eliminated, or at least reduced by our technical expertise. Demographically, they were the more highly educated males working in high status occupations.
The findings of this study suggest the potential usefulness of the model in designing community programs to reduce air pollution.
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This research was supported by a grant from the Air Pollution Control Office, No. 1 RO1 APO1345-01, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
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Gray, R.M., Kasteler, J.M. & Geertsen, H.R. Public attitudes toward air pollution as a motivational factor in taking action. Ann Reg Sci 7, 106–114 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283487
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01283487