A cross-cultural study on attitudes toward risk, safety and security

Abstract

In this paper, the author aims to examine the status quo of people's attitude toward risk and safety as well as the differences between risk attitudes in Japan, USA and China. The social survey was carried out in February and March of 2008. It used questionnaires to obtain data of people: male and female, 20-69 years, in each country, using random sampling. The survey has clarified the status quo and differences about perception toward 19 items of risk, effects of safety perception and risk image based on people's anxiety. It has been found that Japanese people fear most strongly the bad influence of life risks. The effect of risk image on anxiety was relatively strong in China and Japan, the effect of safety perception was stronger in the US. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.