How Do People Perceive Media-Reported Risks

Abstract

Individuals’ perceptions of and responses to different risk sources are often intercorrelated, particularly for risks belonging to the same domain such as health or finance. However, less is known about the nature of the interconnections of risk perceptions across domains and individual differences in the interconnection patterns. This study examined the perceptions of 13 major media-reported risks and their interconnection patterns across demographic groups. The study also explored whether the perceptions were associated with different population profiles. The study involved 2124 residents in Singapore who completed a cross-sectional survey study in 2023. Network analyses revealed that participants’ risk perceptions clustered based on risk domains. The clustering pattern was not associated with the prevalence of experienced harm from the risks for the sampled population. The clustering patterns were mostly consistent across risk targets—who is at risk, that is, oneself or people in Singapore, genders, and age groups. Furthermore, latent profile analysis identified three classes (Invariant Risk Non-Alert, Selective Risk Alert, and Invariant Risk Alert) with distinct risk perception profiles, which were significantly different in terms of their sociodemographic characteristics. These latent profile results suggest that individuals’ overall risk sensitivity is driven more by personal attributes than by the characteristics of the risks. The findings of this study offer potential implications for the design of risk communication strategies in Singapore. This study also provides insights for cross-country research on risk perception across different domains. Show more