Risk perception to food in mothers who have children : Focusing on food allergies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the structure of risk perception in mothers who had babies, especially mothers of family with food allergies. The survey was conducted between April 2004 and June 2004, and mothers attending health checkups for their 3-year-olds were chosen by stratified random sampling from 120 municipalities in Japan. The survey consisted of a total of 9 main questions. There were 12 items associated with risk perception. The factor analysis was done referring to methods of the previous research. As a result, overall, these items were divided into two factors (tuberculosis, second-hand smoke, AIDS, SARS) and (food allergies, food additives, genetically modified foods, BSE, bird flu, mercury in fish, endocrine disrupters, and dioxin). The items were divided into three factors for mothers of family with food allergies (second-hand smoke, food allergies, food additives, genetically modified foods, endocrine disrupters, dioxin) and (BSE, bird flu, mercury in fish) and (tuberculosis, AIDS, SARS). Mothers of family without food allergies had the same structure of risk perception as that of all mothers as a whole. These findings suggest that risk perception needs to be considered when communicating risk to mothers of family with food allergies.