Predicting Emergency Response Intentions Among the Canadian Public in the Context of Terrorism Threats: Examining Sociodemographics and the Mediating Role of Risk Perception

ABSTRACT

Much research in emergency preparedness is dedicated to exploring differences in behavior based on sociodemographic attributes. It has been suggested that these differences may be partially explained by cognitive threat appraisals; however, this relationship is rarely tested empirically in the literature. This study investigates the mediational role of cognitive threat appraisals on the relationship between sociodemographic attributes and anticipated emergency response in a representative sample of the Canadian public (n = 1502). Findings reveal that a number of sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, age, education, and income were significantly related to anticipated emergency response. Cognitive threat appraisals—including two measures of risk perception for terrorism threats—were similarly found to differ significantly by sociodemographic attributes, and were significantly related to anticipated emergency response. However, with the exception of gender, these differences in risk perception did not significantly explain the sociodemographic differences in anticipated response. These results suggest that while individual-level differences in appraisal are important considerations in emergency preparedness and response, further research should consider the broader contextual factors relevant to at-risk demographic groups to better explain these relationships. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Key Words:

• risk perception
• emergency response
• terrorism
• mediation
• sociodemographics
• social vulnerability
• Canadian public

Notes

MI produces several datasets on which to perform analyses (in this case, five datasets), with results pooled by data analysis software. Since this pooling option was not available for the current analysis, each dataset was examined to rule out major discrepancies in the results, with the first imputed dataset being used in this analysis.

Additional information

Funding

The work presented in this article was conducted as part of Stacey Gibson's doctoral dissertation, which received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, Public Safety Canada (PSC), and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS). The project for which the survey was conducted was led by Louise Lemyre and supported by the CBRNE Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI) of Canada (project #CRTI02-0080RD), as well as the SSHRC.