Place Attachment Style as a Predictor of Responses to the Environmental Threat of Water Contamination

People are increasingly exposed to environmental threat in the form of “slow-scale” disaster, such as the water contamination at Flint, Michigan. Little is known about the role of place attachment in determining responses to such threats. The present research tests a comprehensive model linking place attachment style to patterns of environmental threat response. Two highly powered surveys (total N = 603) test this model in the context of a water contamination scenario. Across both studies, we find that a more communal and traditionalist place inherited style predicts defensive denial of the threat and compensatory identification with spiritual powers, while a more agentic and cosmopolitan place discovered style predicts identification with responsible institutions and collective action motivation. Place relativity style—characterized by high mobility and lack of attachment—predicts scapegoating of responsible institutions, especially when the threat occurs in a location other than one’s neighborhood (Study 2).

Denial as a Defense against Depression in End-Stage Renal Disease: An Empirical Test

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is recognized as imposing severe psychosocial stresses upon patients with the result that depression is believed to be highly prevalent. A number of studies have reported low levels of depression, however, and this contradictory finding has been explained via the construct of defensive denial-i.e., patients may minimize the impact of illness-related experiences upon their overall experiences of life. The present study tested this hypothesis in a sample of seventy ESRD patients. Participants rated a series of twelve life dimensions (e.g., work, family and marital relations, recreation) in terms of perceived intrusiveness and control as well as indicating their perceived similarity using a card sort task. Standard measures of depression, positive and negative moods, somatic symptoms of distress, self-esteem, and life happiness were also obtained via structured interviews. A multidimensional scaling analysis applied to the card sort data indicated that ESRD patients do, indeed, perceive illness-related and nonillness aspects of life as independent. However, an analysis of partial variance-controlling for age and nonrenal health-failed to provide evidence of defensive denial. The suggestion is forwarded that previous findings of a high prevalence of depression in ESRD may be in error due to the misidentification of uremic symptoms as symptoms of depression.