Gordon L. Bultena

Measuring Environmental Concern: The New Environmental Paradigm Scale

(1982). Measuring Environmental Concern: The New Environmental Paradigm Scale. The Journal of Environmental Education: Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 39-43.

Food safety: An application of the health belief model

Abstract The safety of the food supply is a growing health concern in the United States. This makes it important to determine what food safety actions people usually take and what factors predict these actions. The present analysis examines the application of the health belief model to food safety. Randomly selected adults in a midwestern state responded to a mailed questionnaire asking their attitudes and behaviors concerning food safety. The findings provided evidence that actions were being taken to assure the safety of food. These actions centered on information seeking, food preparation, and food purchase. Factors that predicted food safety actions were derived from the health belief model. These included the perception that unsafe food is a personal health threat, the perception that one could do something about the threat (self-efficacy), and the motivation to maintain good health. Interaction effects of self-efficacy with perceived threat were examined. Those who feel a personal threat and believe they can do something about it are more likely to engage in food safety behavior. In addition, the sociodemographic factors of age, gender and household size are related to food safety behavior.

Closing the gates: A study of backcountry use‐limitation at Mount McKinley National Park

Abstract Findings are reported from a study of recreational carrying capacity at Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska. Hikers in the park were questioned about: (1) their expectations and preferences for sightings of other parties in the backcountry, (2) the number of parties seen daily, (3) sightings of human‐use impacts upon the environment, and (4) trip satisfaction. Whether or not hikers felt crowded was found to be a function of their expectations and preferences for contact, the frequency of their contacts with other parties, and their sightings of human‐use impacts. Consistent with previous research, crowding was not shown to be important to the hikers’ overall satisfaction with their backcountry trips. The data suggest that the extant backcountry capacity levels in Mount McKinley National Park could be increased somewhat without compromising the quality of most visitors’ experiences.

Visitors to national parks: a test of the elitism argument.

It frequently has been assumed that the poor and some minority groups largely lack the financial wherewithal to travel to Americas national parks. Data showing an underrepresentation of the poor among visitors at some parks has spurred charges of “elitism” in national park use, and has been an often‐used argument to justify more development (especially the provision of low‐cost facilities) in the national parks. This study tested for relationships between several status characteristics and the national park visitation of residents of the Pacific Coastal Region. As hypothesized, income, education, occupation and a cumulative status measure were all positively related to the frequency of national park going. But the low magnitude of the relationships suggests that the charges of “elitism” in national park going are overdrawn, and that perhaps there has been a substantial democratization of social‐class access to a “national park experience” during this century.

Freedom versus control: A study of backpackers’ preferences for wilderness management

Abstract The rationing of public access to wildlands frequently is used by land management agencies to protect both physical resources and the quality of visitors’ experiences. Establishing and enforcing optimum use levels, however, presents a dilemma in that wilderness often is perceived in the public mind as permitting spontaneity of behavior and escape from bureaucratic regimentation. We studied the receptivity of backpackers to use limitations at Mount McKinley National Park in Alaska. It was found that they solidly supported the idea of rationing, and they were generally supportive of the backcountry management policies of the Park. Backpackers who were the most committed to finding solitude and who espoused anti‐development goals were more supportive of rationing and the extant management policies than were persons for whom wilderness values held little or no importance.

Correspondence between Anticipated and Actual Uses of Public Services by the Aged

Rising public concern for ameliorating social problems in American society has produced many social surveys. These surveys typically seem to demonstrate, through verbal or written statements obtained from samples of individuals representing particular target populations, both the nature of existing needs and the desire for public services. Needs of client systems usually have been identified by asking individuals what they consider their own and/or their communitys needs, and whether they would utilize social welfare programs designed to meet these needs. The question addressed in this paper is whether verbalized statements of needs and of a willingness to use social welfare programs as obtained in one such survey were later reflected in the actual use of these programs. We were able to examine this issue through longitudinal data on a group of older persons. Our evidence suggests that earlier statements of personal need and willingness to use public programs are not a good indicator of later behavior. An added finding is that most existing nonfinancial needs are being met through established friend and family networks.

Structural effects in national parkgoing.

Abstract Studies of outdoor recreation commonly mobilize “individual‐level” variables, such as personal characteristics (e.g., age, sex, socioeconomic status), personality, psychological needs, life experiences, and attitudes in testing for explanations of different participation styles. Seldom is attention directed to the explanatory importance for these studies of “system‐level” or contextual variables, such as structural and cultural patterns. Structural‐effects analysis is used in this exploratory study to test the importance of a system‐level variable (social‐class structure) for the relationship between two individual‐level variables, socioeconomic status and national parkgoing. Several status variables were found to be positively associated with the frequency of the respondents’ national parkgoing. But more importantly, these relationships were materially affected by the class structures of the respondents’ home communities. Working‐class persons in a predominately middle‐class population displayed...

HEALTH PATTERNS OF AGED MIGRANT RETIREES

Data are reported from interviews with 349 retirees who have moved permanently from the Midwest to communities in Florida and Arizona. Analysis is made of the role of health considerations in their migration decision, as well as the implications of health problems for their differential adaptation to retirement living. Although health frequently was given as a motive for moving, the respondents were found to be in as good health as persons retiring in the Midwest. Migrants in poor health experienced greater financial difficulty and were less satisfied with their move than those in good health.

Preserving topsoil: A study of U.S. farmers’ commitments to resource conservation

Abstract Analysis is made of the success of a 50‐year experiment in the United States to control soil erosion. Findings are reported from a 13‐state study of farmers’ adoptions of conservation plans prepared by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). The study sites have some of the highest rates of soil erosion found in the United States, yet only about a third of the farm operators have conservation plans. Furthermore, many of these plans are outdated and the actions required to reduce soil erosion often are not implemented. The Farm Security Act of 1985 represents a new strategy for addressing long‐standing soil erosion problems.

The four‐day workweek: An assessment of its effects on leisure participation

The 4‐day workweek is emerging as an alternative to the 5‐day schedule. Its effect on leisure participation is examined here. Using a sample of 226 4‐and 5‐day workers, three types of change in leisure participation are examined. Activity change provides a measure of net change in the number of different leisure activities pursued and reflects the degree of diversity in the respondents’ leisure participation. Frequency change provides a measure of change in the amount of time devoted to leisure participation. Perceptual change is the degree of perceived change in the frequency of leisure participation. Findings reveal that 4‐ and 5‐day workers differ significantly only in the number of different leisure activities pursued (activity change). Four‐ and 5‐day workers devote approximately equal amounts of time to leisure participation. Within these equal time frames, however, 4‐day workers pursue a greater number of different leisure activities than do 5‐day workers.