The Role of Involvement, Scientific Literacy, Education, and Message Format in Influencing the Lay

Public’s Regulatory Attitude about PFOA Exposure

Kami Silk, Samantha Nazione, Lindsay Neuberger, Sandi Smith, Charles Atkin

Michigan State UniversityUniversity of Central Florida

Background

• Recent studies have linked Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to increased breast cancer risk– PFOA is found in many household items such as

non-stick cookware and carpeting– Breast cancer is the second most common and,

also the second most deadly cancer in women• Currently, there is little legislation on PFOA• What factors might influence womens’

attitudes toward PFOA regulation?

Theoretical Models and Hypotheses

• Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM) (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993)

– Proposes two routes to persuasion based on an individual’s ability and motivation

– High motivation and ability will lead to the systematic route • Critical and time consuming

– Low motivation and ability will lead to the heuristic route • Superficial and quick

• H1: Motivation as measured by cancer experience, advocacy status, and involvement will be positively related to attitude toward new regulation of PFOA

Theoretical Models and Hypotheses

• Receive Accept Sample (RAS) model (Zaller, 1992)

– Created by political scientists– Posits that individuals with higher levels of

political knowledge are more likely to receive political messages, but less likely to accept those messages at face value

• H2: Education will be negatively related to attitude toward new regulation of PFOA

Research Questions

• RQ1: How does scientific literacy influence attitude toward new regulation of PFOA?

• RQ2: How does presentation of information (lay vs. scientific vs. poster) influence attitude toward new regulation of PFOA?

Lay Excerpt (7th grade reading level)• Health Effects of the Chemical PFOA on Mice

• One of the most common man-made long-lasting pollutants found in our environment is PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid). This chemical is found in foods, drinking water, some cookware, and industrial products. It leads to tumors in the liver, pancreas, and testicles of mice and rats. Most human studies on the health effects of PFOA contact involve adults who have handled it for their jobs. Not long ago, high levels of PFOA were found in a group of 6 to 8 year old girls. We are not sure whether this will have harmful health effects in the future. However, a young girl is thought to be more easily affected by pollutants before she starts her period than after that time. Scientists are worried that contact with pollutants could cause a person’s risk of (chances of getting) breast cancer later in life to go up.

Scientific Excerpt (12th grade reading level)

• PFOA project message for translation and dissemination

• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8 and perfluorooctanoate, is one of the most common man-made persistent environmental pollutants. PFOA causes liver, pancreatic, and testicular tumors in rodents. Unexpected high blood serum levels of PFOA were detected in a group of young pre-pubertal girls between 6 and 8 years of age. Most health effects of PFOA exposure have been studied in adults who received occupational exposure. The potential health effects of PFOA exposure in young girls of peripubertal age is not known. The peripubertal age in humans is thought to be a period of high sensitivity to environmental pollutant exposures that may increase the risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

• Poster format• 7th grade

reading level

Methods

• Email sent through the Love/ Avon Army of Women (advocacy organization)

• Women randomized into 3 conditions (lay, scientific, poster)

• 2,078 participants– Largely white and highly educated

• Scales assessed involvement, scientific literacy, and regulatory attitude– Acceptable reliability (.78 to .97) and validity (RMSE

scores under .05) were found.

Results

• Ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression used

• Overall, the model was significant, F(7, 1919) = 26.50, p < .001, R2 = .085.

H1: Involvement will be positively correlated with regulation attitudes

• Partially supported• Involvement ( = .287, p < .001), was positively

related • Cancer experience was not significant ( = -.10,

p =.645)• Advocacy ( = -.063, p = .018), was significant,

but in the opposite direction predicted

H2: Education will be negatively correlated with regulation attitudes

• Supported, ( = -.062, p = .005)

• Scientific literacy was negatively related to attitude toward new regulation of PFOA ( = -.063, p = .005)

RQ1: How will scientific literacy be related to regulation attitude?

RQ2: How will message format be related to regulation attitudes?

• Message format did not make a difference in participant attitude toward new regulation of PFOA

• The scientific ( = -.021, p = .470), lay ( = -.012, p = .680), and poster formats (reference group) did not significantly differ regarding participant attitude toward new regulation of PFOA

Conclusions

• Limitations– White, educated sample – Did not use a specific policy

• Implications– Motivation as measured by involvement was the

strongest predictor of regulation attitudes– RAS might be useful in this line of research as

education was negatively related to regulation attitudes

Conclusions

• Implications – Similarly to education, scientific literacy was negatively

related to regulation attitudes• Education and scientific literacy may lead to an

overwhelming knowledge of risks

– Format did not make a difference• We may have had an overly engaged audience

– Two theoretical models conflict at times regarding participant receptiveness to messages

– Future campaigns will need to balance persuasion and education