4 - Students perceiving risk: a quantitative assessment on three South African university campuses
Corresponding Author(s) : Asta Rau
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 18 No. 1 (2014): African Sociological Review
Abstract
This paper documents risk as perceived by students in three South African universities—it focuses on risk encountered in everyday choices such as sexual behaviour, alcohol use and freedom of association.The project originated in qualitative research conducted over two years (2008- 2009) among Rhodes University (RU) Sociology students. A second—quantitative—phase began in 2010 when findings from the initial phase were used to guide students in designing and piloting a questionnaire. Pilot results then informed a final research iteration in which a second questionnaire was designed and administered at three universities.The final questionnaire proved robust and performed very well. Among the 1694 valid cases included in analyses, strong associations were found between the universities, respondents’ sex and their worldview. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four latent constructs underlying all responses: The existential experience of risk; Stress and pressure resulting from exposure to financial and emotional risk; Risks attached to the everyday university culture; and Promiscuity. These constructs explained 59.8% of the total variance in all observed cases (all respondents in all universities).
Students’ perception of risk in their lives is complex and multi-dimensional. The research found considerable evidence for Beck’s claim that in late modernity there is increasing individualisation in people’s perception of risk. Also, the degrees to which specific risks resonate in student consciousness demonstrate that risk is—as Zinn claims—both constructed and real.
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- Adam, B. D. (2005). Constructing the neoliberal sexual actor: responsibility and care of the self in the discourse of barebackers. Culture, Health & Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, 7(4), 333–346. doi:10.1080/13691050500100773
- Avena,T., & Renn, O.(2009). On risk defined as an event where the outcome is uncertain.
- Journal of Risk Research, 12(1), 1–11. doi:10.1080/13669870802488883 Bandalos, D. L., & Finney, S. J. (2010). Factor analysis: exploratory and confirmatory.
- In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 93–114). New York: Routledge.
- Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press. Bauman, Z. (2007). Consuming life. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press.
- Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: towards a new modernity (Translated from the German Risikogesellschaft 1986). Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Blair, E., Sudman, S., Bradburn, N. M., & Stocking, C. (1977). How to ask questions about drinking and sex: response effects in measuring consumer behaviour. Journal of Marketing Research, 13(Special Issue: Recent Developments in Survey Research, Aug., 1977), 316–321. doi:10.2307/3150769 Cebulla, A. (2007). Class or individual? A test of the nature of risk perceptions and the individualisation thesis of risk society theory. Journal of Risk Research, 10(2), 129–148.
- Coetzee, J. K., Elliker, F., & Rau, A. (2013). Training for advanced research in the narrative study of lives. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(2, May 2013), Art.8. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1972/3517
- Douglas, M., & Wildavsky, A. (1983). Risk and culture: an essay on the selection of technological and environmental dangers. Faculty Scholarship Series, Paper 2192. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/2192
- Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5th ed.). London, UK: SAGE Publishing.
- Furlong, A., & Cartmel, F. (2007). Young people and social change. New perspectives (2nd ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- Gaskell, G., Allum, N., Wagner, W., Kronberger, N., Torgersen, H., & Bardes, J. (2004). GM foods and the misperception of risk perception. Risk Analysis, 24(1), 185–194. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0272- 4332.2004.00421.x/pdf
- Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Giddens, A. (1994). Beyond left and right. The future of radical politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Giddens, A. (1999). Runaway world. How globalisation is reshaping our lives. Cambridge:Profile Books.
- Gordon, S. F., & Collins, A. (2013). “We face rape. We face all things”: understandings of gender-based violence amongst female students at a South African university. African Safety Promotion Journal, 11(2), 93–106. Retrieved from http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/safety/safety_v11_n2_a9.pdf
- Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.). (2010). The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences. New York: Routledge.
- Hawkes, G., & Rowe, G. (2008). A characterisation of the methodology of qualitative research on the nature of perceived risk: trends and omissions. Journal of Risk Research, 11(5), 617–643.
- Hayenhjelm, M. (2006). Out of the ashes: hope and vulnerability as explanatory factors in individual risk taking. Journal of Risk Research, 9(3), 189–204. doi:10.1080/13669870500419537
- HEAIDS. (2010). HIV prevalence and related factors – higher education sector study, South Africa, 2008–2009. Pretoria.
- Jackson, J., Allum, N., & Gaskell, G. (2006). Bridging levels of analysis in risk perception research: the case of the fear of crime. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(1), Art.20. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/63/129
- Kalichman, S.C., Simbayi, L.C., Kaufman, M., Cain, D., Cherry, C., Jooste, S.,& Mathiti, V. (2005). Gender attitudes, sexual violence, and HIV/AIDS risks among men and women in Cape Town, South Africa. The Journal of Sex Research, 42(4), 299–305.
- Klockars, A. J. (2010). Analysis of variance: Between-groups designs. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 1–14). New York: Routledge.
- Knapp, T. R., & Mueller, R. O. (2010). Reliability and validity of instruments. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 337–342). New York: Routledge.
- Leve, M., Rubin, L., & Pusic, A. (2011). Cosmetic surgery and neoliberalisms: managing risk and responsibility. Feminism & Psychology, 22(1), 122–141. doi:10.1177/0959353511424361
- Moore, S. E. H., & Burgess, A. (2010). Risk rituals? Journal of Risk Research, 14(1), 111–124. doi:10.1080/13669877.2010.505347
- Mudhovozi, P., Ramarumo, M., & Sodi, T. (2012). Adolescent sexuality and culture: South African mothers` perspective. African Sociological Review, 16(2), 119–138. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/view/87573/77242
- Nuttall, S., & McGregor, L. (2007). Forward. In L. McGregor & S. Nuttall (Eds.), At risk. Writing on or over the edge in South Africa. Jeppestown: Jonathan Ball Publishers.
- Pengpid, S., Peltzer, K., Heever, H. van der, & Skaal, L. (2013). Screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol use among university students in South Africa: results from a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10, 2043–2057. doi:10.3390/ ijerph10052043
- Rau, A., Coetzee, J. K., & Vice, A. (2010). Narrating student life in a time of risk. Qualitative Sociology Review, VI(3), 81–98. Retrieved from http://www.qualitativesociologyreview.org/ENG/Volume17/QSR_6_3_Rau_Coetzee_ Vice.pdf
- Seear, K. (2009). “Standing up to the beast”: contradictory notions of control, un/ certainty and risk in the endometriosis self-help literature. Critical Public Health, 19(1), 45–58. doi:10.1080/09581590802011625
- Thaver, L., & Thaver, B. (2010). Structural orientation and social agency in South Africa: state, race, higher education and transformation. African Sociological Review, 14(1), 48–66. Retrieved from www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/ download/70228/58417
- Thorsen, D. E., & Lie, A. (2006). What is neoliberalism? Oslo: University of Oslo, Department of Political Science. Retrieved February 07, 2014, from http://folk. uio.no/daget/What is Neo-Liberalism FINAL.pdf
- Threadgold, S., & Nilan, P. (2009). Reflexivity of contemporary youth, risk and cultural capital. Current Sociology, 57(1), 47–68. doi:0.1177/0011392108097452
- UNICEF South Africa. (2012). South Africa annual report, 2012. Pretoria. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/SAF_resources_annual2012.pdf
- Wall, E., & Olofsson, A. (2008). Young people making sense of risk: how meanings of risk are materialized within the social context of everyday life. Young, 16(4), 431–448. doi:10.1177/110330880801600405
- Woolf-King, S. E., & Maisto, S. A. (2011). Alcohol use and high-risk sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa: a narrative review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 17–42. doi:10.1007/s10508-009-9516-4
- Young, C., & Campbell, M. (2013). Student wellbeing at a university in post-apartheid South Africa: a comparison with a British university sample using the GP- CORE measure. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling. doi:10.1080/03069 885.2013.779638
- Zinn, J. O. (2006). Recent developments in sociology of risk and uncertainty. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(1), Art.3. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/ view/68/140
References
Adam, B. D. (2005). Constructing the neoliberal sexual actor: responsibility and care of the self in the discourse of barebackers. Culture, Health & Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, 7(4), 333–346. doi:10.1080/13691050500100773
Avena,T., & Renn, O.(2009). On risk defined as an event where the outcome is uncertain.
Journal of Risk Research, 12(1), 1–11. doi:10.1080/13669870802488883 Bandalos, D. L., & Finney, S. J. (2010). Factor analysis: exploratory and confirmatory.
In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 93–114). New York: Routledge.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press. Bauman, Z. (2007). Consuming life. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: towards a new modernity (Translated from the German Risikogesellschaft 1986). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Blair, E., Sudman, S., Bradburn, N. M., & Stocking, C. (1977). How to ask questions about drinking and sex: response effects in measuring consumer behaviour. Journal of Marketing Research, 13(Special Issue: Recent Developments in Survey Research, Aug., 1977), 316–321. doi:10.2307/3150769 Cebulla, A. (2007). Class or individual? A test of the nature of risk perceptions and the individualisation thesis of risk society theory. Journal of Risk Research, 10(2), 129–148.
Coetzee, J. K., Elliker, F., & Rau, A. (2013). Training for advanced research in the narrative study of lives. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(2, May 2013), Art.8. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1972/3517
Douglas, M., & Wildavsky, A. (1983). Risk and culture: an essay on the selection of technological and environmental dangers. Faculty Scholarship Series, Paper 2192. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/2192
Flick, U. (2014). An introduction to qualitative research (5th ed.). London, UK: SAGE Publishing.
Furlong, A., & Cartmel, F. (2007). Young people and social change. New perspectives (2nd ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Gaskell, G., Allum, N., Wagner, W., Kronberger, N., Torgersen, H., & Bardes, J. (2004). GM foods and the misperception of risk perception. Risk Analysis, 24(1), 185–194. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0272- 4332.2004.00421.x/pdf
Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giddens, A. (1994). Beyond left and right. The future of radical politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giddens, A. (1999). Runaway world. How globalisation is reshaping our lives. Cambridge:Profile Books.
Gordon, S. F., & Collins, A. (2013). “We face rape. We face all things”: understandings of gender-based violence amongst female students at a South African university. African Safety Promotion Journal, 11(2), 93–106. Retrieved from http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/safety/safety_v11_n2_a9.pdf
Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.). (2010). The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences. New York: Routledge.
Hawkes, G., & Rowe, G. (2008). A characterisation of the methodology of qualitative research on the nature of perceived risk: trends and omissions. Journal of Risk Research, 11(5), 617–643.
Hayenhjelm, M. (2006). Out of the ashes: hope and vulnerability as explanatory factors in individual risk taking. Journal of Risk Research, 9(3), 189–204. doi:10.1080/13669870500419537
HEAIDS. (2010). HIV prevalence and related factors – higher education sector study, South Africa, 2008–2009. Pretoria.
Jackson, J., Allum, N., & Gaskell, G. (2006). Bridging levels of analysis in risk perception research: the case of the fear of crime. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(1), Art.20. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/63/129
Kalichman, S.C., Simbayi, L.C., Kaufman, M., Cain, D., Cherry, C., Jooste, S.,& Mathiti, V. (2005). Gender attitudes, sexual violence, and HIV/AIDS risks among men and women in Cape Town, South Africa. The Journal of Sex Research, 42(4), 299–305.
Klockars, A. J. (2010). Analysis of variance: Between-groups designs. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 1–14). New York: Routledge.
Knapp, T. R., & Mueller, R. O. (2010). Reliability and validity of instruments. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), The reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods in the social sciences (pp. 337–342). New York: Routledge.
Leve, M., Rubin, L., & Pusic, A. (2011). Cosmetic surgery and neoliberalisms: managing risk and responsibility. Feminism & Psychology, 22(1), 122–141. doi:10.1177/0959353511424361
Moore, S. E. H., & Burgess, A. (2010). Risk rituals? Journal of Risk Research, 14(1), 111–124. doi:10.1080/13669877.2010.505347
Mudhovozi, P., Ramarumo, M., & Sodi, T. (2012). Adolescent sexuality and culture: South African mothers` perspective. African Sociological Review, 16(2), 119–138. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/view/87573/77242
Nuttall, S., & McGregor, L. (2007). Forward. In L. McGregor & S. Nuttall (Eds.), At risk. Writing on or over the edge in South Africa. Jeppestown: Jonathan Ball Publishers.
Pengpid, S., Peltzer, K., Heever, H. van der, & Skaal, L. (2013). Screening and brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol use among university students in South Africa: results from a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10, 2043–2057. doi:10.3390/ ijerph10052043
Rau, A., Coetzee, J. K., & Vice, A. (2010). Narrating student life in a time of risk. Qualitative Sociology Review, VI(3), 81–98. Retrieved from http://www.qualitativesociologyreview.org/ENG/Volume17/QSR_6_3_Rau_Coetzee_ Vice.pdf
Seear, K. (2009). “Standing up to the beast”: contradictory notions of control, un/ certainty and risk in the endometriosis self-help literature. Critical Public Health, 19(1), 45–58. doi:10.1080/09581590802011625
Thaver, L., & Thaver, B. (2010). Structural orientation and social agency in South Africa: state, race, higher education and transformation. African Sociological Review, 14(1), 48–66. Retrieved from www.ajol.info/index.php/asr/article/ download/70228/58417
Thorsen, D. E., & Lie, A. (2006). What is neoliberalism? Oslo: University of Oslo, Department of Political Science. Retrieved February 07, 2014, from http://folk. uio.no/daget/What is Neo-Liberalism FINAL.pdf
Threadgold, S., & Nilan, P. (2009). Reflexivity of contemporary youth, risk and cultural capital. Current Sociology, 57(1), 47–68. doi:0.1177/0011392108097452
UNICEF South Africa. (2012). South Africa annual report, 2012. Pretoria. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/SAF_resources_annual2012.pdf
Wall, E., & Olofsson, A. (2008). Young people making sense of risk: how meanings of risk are materialized within the social context of everyday life. Young, 16(4), 431–448. doi:10.1177/110330880801600405
Woolf-King, S. E., & Maisto, S. A. (2011). Alcohol use and high-risk sexual behavior in sub-Saharan Africa: a narrative review. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 17–42. doi:10.1007/s10508-009-9516-4
Young, C., & Campbell, M. (2013). Student wellbeing at a university in post-apartheid South Africa: a comparison with a British university sample using the GP- CORE measure. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling. doi:10.1080/03069 885.2013.779638
Zinn, J. O. (2006). Recent developments in sociology of risk and uncertainty. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(1), Art.3. Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/ view/68/140