Persistence Differences between the Three Mile Island Residents and a Control Group.
Abstract
The nuclear accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) on March 28, 1979. The purpose of this dissertation was to compare TMI residents to a demographically similar control group to determine (1) if the chronic stress experience by TMI residents would influence persistence on two experimental tasks, and (2) whether effects on task persistence would vary depending upon individual coping style and degree of behavioral involvement with the tasks. All subjects resided within sight of the damaged nuclear power plant at TMI. The control group subjects were from Frederick, MD located over eighty miles away. It was hypothesized that the TMI residents would exhibit significantly less persistence on the chance tasks than would the control group. It was anticipated that, in the low involvement condition, all subjects would show significantly less persistence than in the high involvement condition. The method selected to roll the dice (i.e., hand or cup) was expected to be significantly different between the TMI and Frederick groups, with more TMI subjects choosing to roll the dice by hand. Subjects with a High-Control-Oriented coping style were expected to persist longer than those subjects with a Low-Control-Oriented coping style. All these hypotheses were confirmed except one. These responses appear to be related to the TMI resident's experiences with chronic stress and other influences in their environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA145567
Entities
People
- D. L. Collins
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology