抄録
We analyze how social characteristics influence people’s change in behavior regarding environmental risks. In Bangladesh, 35 million people drink arsenic contaminated groundwater. These people need to change their drinking water sources to avoid arsenic-related problems.
We used a questionnaire survey to interview 400 households. More than 90% of the respondents had already acquired basic knowledge of arsenic problems, and most recognized that the use of safe drinking water was important. However, though 51% (204) households changed their drinking water sources to safe ones, 48% (191) still drank contaminated water.
The number of people who changed their water sources was related to the number of arsenic-free water sources. Knowledge of the issue alone cannot change people’s behavior; here, the use of safe water was related to the particular social conditions of communities.
