Understanding and Improving Personal Risk Management: New Perpective on Personal Policy Decision and an Illustration_ The Case of Seatbelts.

Decision Making;Risk Management;Seatbelts;Sexual Behavior;Smoking;Adolescents;Psychology;Health Sciences;Social Sciences;Psychology

Alattar, LaithSeifert, Colleen M. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Decision Making;    Risk Management;    Seatbelts;    Sexual Behavior;    Smoking;    Adolescents;    Psychology;    Health Sciences;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86440/alattar_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This dissertation presents, tests, and explains the ability of two perspectives to guide productive efforts for understanding and improving how people, especially adolescents and young adults, manage significant daily risks, with special attention on the illustrative case of seatbelt use.The first perspective frames this problem in terms of the general concept of risk management. I adapt the framework of risk management to personal domains, as illustrated by three archetypes: smoking, sexual behavior, and seatbelt use. The second perspective explains personal risk management using the cardinal issue perspective on decision making, which decomposes decision processes into 10 cardinal elements. This conceptualization also considers risk management decisions at two levels: labile, spot decisions, and stable, policy decisions. I synthesize findings from a naturalistic study on seatbelt use to provide insight for a more comprehensive understanding of the general class of personal risk management problems. These findings show that the best predictors of seatbelt use are personal policies that prescribe consistent seatbelt use and do not allow for episodic variation. I present key benefits of establishing such policies for the effective management of personal risks. Specifically, good policies (1) eliminate or reduce risk; (2) lessen the likelihood of making poor spot decisions; (3) trigger the need to make spot decisions; (4) lead to the establishment of good habits; and (5) minimize the process costs of risk management decisions. I also argue for the efficacy of personal risk management strategies in the domains of smoking, sexual behavior, and driving (seatbelts), and discuss similarities and differences between the domains.These conclusions provide various implications for interventions aimed at improving personal risk management (e.g., driver’s education and sexual education). The conclusions also set the stage for future research to investigate the mechanisms of establishing good personal policies. This dissertation contributes not only to the conceptual understanding of personal risk management, but also highlights specific recommendations to allow for more effective risk management decisions, and ultimately, to influence the desired behavioral outcomes, whether they be reduced smoking, safer sexual behavior, consistent seatbelt use, or corresponding behaviors in other domains of personal risk.