Geographic location or experience: Using PRISM to understand how people seek flood risk information

Flooding is increasing worldwide, and with climate change, people need help understanding these changing conditions and that their flood risk may also change. This study extends the planned risk information seeking model (PRISM) into the flood risk domain and examines the antecedents that explain flood risk information seeking behavior. Using a survey reflective of the population in the state of Texas (N = 1079), this study includes an operationalization of risk perception specific to the complexity of floods and explores two key moderators in the PRISM model. Findings suggest that using PRISM to elaborate flood risk information seeking behaviors explains 48% of the variance in information seeking intent and 37% of the variance in affective risk perception. Using multigroup modeling, the findings also reveal that simply living in an area at high risk for floods does not significantly impact any relationships in the model. However, having experience with flooding increases the strength of risk perception paths—in particular, perceived probability of flood risk—and better explains flood risk information seeking. Suggestions for how to use communication to influence risk perceptions and information seeking, as well as future directions for research, are also discussed.     

Using a hybrid data collection tool: Analysis of youth labour market trajectories integrating quantitative,qualitative and social network data

This article explains the factors that led to the use of a hybrid data collection tool—i.e., a single questionnaire designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data—in two different research projects that focused on the relation between the labour market trajectories of young people and the use and accumulation of network social capital in these trajectories. The article describes the characteristics of this tool and the methodological challenges posed by its use. The advantages and disadvantages of this specific type of data collection are also addressed. Among the main advantages, the improvement of data quality and the overarching picture obtained of the career path and use of personal networks are highlighted. The most important downside found is the amount of time needed in the interview, which shows the need to pay attention to the balance between quantitative and qualitative elements in the structure of the questionnaire.     

Rumor behaviors as collective problem-solving: The moderating roles of regulatory focus

Approaching rumors as a form of collective problem-solving, this study investigated how regulatory focus (i.e., prevention vs. promotion) interacts with rumor valence to affect rumor behaviors via community motives using an experiment with 534 Korean citizens. The analysis showed that positive rumors (vs. negative) elicit stronger information seeking intentions among low promotion-focus individuals. Also, when exposed to negative rumors (vs. positive), both high prevention- and promotion-focus individuals showed stronger community motives, increasing both their rumor transmitting and information seeking intentions.     

Sensation seeking predicts risky driving behavior: The mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation

The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation on the relationship between sensation seeking and driving behavior based on the dual-process model of aberrant driving behavior. A sample of 299 drivers in China completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, and the Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSS). The relationships among sensation seeking, difficulties in emotion regulation, and driving behavior were investigated using pathway analysis. The results showed that (1) disinhibition and boredom susceptibility are positively and significantly related to difficulties in emotion regulation and risky driving behaviors; (2) difficulties in emotion regulation are positively and significantly associated with risky driving behaviors; (3) difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the effect of sensation seeking on driving behaviors, supporting the dual-process model of driving behavior; and (4) professional drivers score higher in terms of difficulties in emotion regulation and risky driving behaviors than nonprofessional drivers. The findings of this study could provide valuable insights into the selection of suitable drivers and the development of certain programs that benefit road safety.