SGER: Vulnerability Beliefs and Actions Following a Tornado Disaster

SGER：龙卷风灾难后的脆弱性信念和行动

• 批准号: 0634901
• 负责人: Jerry Suls
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-08-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0634901&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Vulnerability; Beliefs; Actions; Following

AbstractOn April 13, 2006, at least five F-2 tornadoes with wind speeds of 150 mph left a path of destruction 4 miles long and 1/3rd of a mile wide in downtown Iowa City the home of the University of Iowa. The storms inflicted serious injuries and extensive damage to several businesses, over 1,000 homes and apartments, and hundreds of automobiles. Many college students and permanent residents were forced to leave their homes because of storm damage. It is estimated that the storms resulted in at least $10 million in damages to public buildings and tens of millions more to private property. This natural disaster provides a unique, time-limited opportunity to examine important questions about perceptions of vulnerability. When people encounter a natural disaster that inflicts extensive injury and damage on their community, what effect does the experience have on their beliefs about vulnerability and preparedness for future disasters? Prior research with populations that have not experienced natural disaster or other kinds of major negative life events indicates that most people tend to believe they are less vulnerable (i.e., unrealistically optimistic) than their peers to future disasters. Less is known, however, about whether this belief changes when a significant negative event actually occurs. The proposed research will determine whether people return to unrealistic optimism and how this relates to future efforts aimed at emergency preparedness. Building on preliminary research with 220 participants contacted within 3-weeks after the tornadoes struck, this project will survey both community residents and college students who reside in Iowa City and were present at the time of the tornados to identify the trajectory of beliefs following a disaster and to advance knowledge about motivational and cognitive processes contributing to unrealistic optimism. Questionnaires/Interviews will be administered at 6- and 10-months post-disaster that contain the same items about beliefs, absolute risk, and objective likelihood. There also will be items about any experience with weather-related disasters or other major negative events since the April tornadoes. ANOVA, t-tests, correlations, and chi-square will be used to examine differences as afunction of subject groupings. The tests of changes over time will be assessed with growth curve analysis. ANOVA (or ANCOVA with demographics) will be used to assess differences across cross-sectional samples. Multiple regression will be used to examine the role of potential moderators and mediators of beliefs and preventive behaviors. Because social psychologists conceptualize the illusion of non-vulnerability as one of the fundamental ways that people cope with uncertainty and anxiety about the future, the answers to these questions, in the context of natural disaster, are important and potentially can extend understanding about coping with disasters that affect entire communities. Findings from this research will address theoretical and practical questions about whether the degree of personal exposure and consequences of a disaster influence beliefs of non-vulnerability and emergency preparedness behaviors.

摘要，2006年4月13日，至少五五辆F-2龙卷风，风速为150英里/小时，在爱荷华大学的家中，爱荷华州市中心的一英里长4英里，1/3英里宽的道路。风暴造成了严重的伤害，并对几家企业，1000多个房屋和公寓以及数百辆汽车造成了严重伤害。许多大学生和永久居民由于暴风雨而被迫离开家。据估计，这些风暴至少造成了对公共建筑物的损失至少1000万美元，并向私有财产造成了数千万美元的损失。这种自然灾害提供了一个独特的，限时的机会，可以研究有关脆弱性看法的重要问题。 当人们遇到一场自然灾害会对社区造成广泛伤害和损害时，经验对他们对脆弱性和对未来灾难的准备的信念有何影响？先前对未曾经历过自然灾害或其他主要负面生活事件的人口的研究表明，大多数人倾向于认为他们比对未来灾难的同龄人更容易受到伤害（即不切实际的乐观）。但是，关于这种信念在实际发生重大的负面事件时是否会改变的知之甚少。拟议的研究将确定人们是否重新获得不切实际的乐观情绪，以及这与针对紧急准备的未来努力的关系。 在龙卷风袭击后与220名参与者进行初步研究的基础上，该项目将调查居住在爱荷华市的社区居民和大学生，他们在龙卷风袭击时出席了灾难的轨迹，以确定灾难的轨迹，并促进有关激励和认知过程的知识，从而有助于不现实的优势。问卷/访谈将在6个月和10个月后进行，其中包含有关信念，绝对风险和客观可能性相同的项目。自4月龙卷风以来，还会有关于与天气有关的灾难或其他重大负面事件的任何经验的项目。方差分析，t检验，相关性和卡方将用于检查差异作为主题组的功能。随着时间的推移变化的测试将通过增长曲线分析评估。 ANOVA（或具有人口统计学的ANCOVA）将用于评估横断面样本之间的差异。多元回归将用于检查潜在的主持人和信念和预防行为的介体的作用。 因为社会心理学家概念化了非剥夺性的幻想是人们应对对未来的不确定性和焦虑的基本方式之一，因此在自然灾害的背景下，这些问题的答案是重要的，并且可能会扩大人们对应对整个社区的灾害的理解。 这项研究的发现将解决有关灾难的个人暴露程度和后果的理论和实用问题，是否影响了对不可置疑性和应急准备行为的信念。