sex and age differences in use and perceptions of emergency messages during katrina

Louisiana Communication Journal Vol. 10, 2008 19

Sex and Age Differences in Use and Perceptionsof Emergency Messages during Katrina*

Jennifer A. Burke, PatricR. Spence, Kenneth A. Lachlan, Matthew W. Seegeay

investigated the relationship betweengender, age, media use, and the perceived adequacy of mediated messages associated with HurricaneKatrina. Surveys were collected from evacuated residents of the New Orleans metropolitan area.Results indicated that men had a better understanding

of mediated instructions than women. Differences forage were also found for importance of television andradio messages. As age increased so did the

importance of television and radio as a desiredmedium. These findings are discussed, along with

limitations of the study and suggestions for futureresearch.

This material is based on work supported by the National ScienceFoundation (NSF) under Grant 0428216. Any opinions, findings,conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this article are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

1 Jennifer Burke is Assistant Professor at Prairie View A & M University(Ph.D, Wayne State University). Patric Spence (Ph.D., Wayne StateUniversity) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of CommunicationArts and Sciences at Calvin College. Ken Lachlan (Ph.D., Michigan StateUniversity) is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department atBoston College and Matthew Seeger (Ph.D, Indiana University) isProfessor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Wayne StateUniversity. Please address all correspondence and inquiries to PatricSpence at the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, DeVosCommunication Center,1810 East Beltline SE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49546.Fax: 616.526.6601. Email: [email protected]

Louisiana Communication Journal Vol. 10, 2008

Key Words: crisis communication, risk research, emergencymediated messages

Hurricane Katrina made contact with the Gulf Coastof the United States on August 29, 2005. The center of thestorm moved over the coast about 35 miles from NewOrleans, causing what has been considered one of the largestnatural disasters in United States history. The eventssurrounding Hurricane Katrina taught emergency personneland first responders several important lessons, arguably themost important of which is the need for effective riskcommunication messages in the days leading up to a naturaldisaster. Perhaps due largely to ineffective crisis and riskmessages, thousands of people in the New Orleansmetropolitan area did not evacuate the city in a timelymanner. This paper examines how age and sex impacted theperceived adequacy of risk messages, media choice, andimplications of hazard and outrage during the onset ofHurricane Katrina.

Risk and Crisis CommunicationTo be effective, risk and crisis messages must meet

the public’s need for control. The messages themselves needto outline the steps that individuals can take to reduce theirsusceptibility to risk. Failure to accurately communicate riskwill impede the ability of individuals to consistently makerational choices concerning how the possible risks may affectthem. Of equal importance, failure to deliver risk and crisismessages will impede the ability to make choices about stepsto take. Risk and crisis communication should serve as a typeof uncertainty-reduction communication for an affectedaudience, giving them the needed information and proceduraladvice to avoid or minimize harm, transmitting thesemessages through the most desired channel.

Past studies have demonstrated that during crisissituations or high risk events, individuals engage ininformation seeking, using mass media as the dominantsource (Murch, 1971; Brashears, et al, 2000; Spence et al,


Although different circumstances play a role in themotivation to gain information during a crisis event, theavailable technology also is a key consideration. The Internet,for example, has diffused at a rapid rate in recent years, butthis diffusion has occurred more slowly among older mediausers (Cole et al, 2002); other research suggests that youngerpeople use print media (such as newspapers) less (Kohut,2002). Studies have found that in crisis events, youngerpeople use the Internet and print media more than olderpeople and report finding them more useful (Spence et al,2006). This appears to contradict a notion that young peopleare not reading newspapers (Schoenbach & Bergen, 2002).These findings may suggest that the perceived usefulness of amedium may be due in part to accessibility and (the) habitualnature of the media. This notion should be explored further,due to limited analysis of age preference and media choice incrisis events. To that end, the following research question isoffered in the context of Hurricane Katrina:

RQ1: How will age affect the use of media in theaftermath of Katrina?

Sex Differences in Information, Media and Risk MessagesAlthough there is little literature investigating the

subject of sex and the use of media for discovering crisis andrisk information, recent research has begun to suggest apattern that may allow risk and crisis practitioners to begin topredict which media are most likely to be useful in a crisisevent, whereas other findings raise more questions. Forexample, research examining terrorism and media use inIsrael (Keinan, Sadeh & Rosen, 2003), indicated that men'prefer to obtain information from vivid media (e.g.,television) while women prefer non-vivid media (e.g., radio).Other bodies of research have supported the idea that womenfind television news relatively uninteresting (Jensen, 1988;Morley, 1986), and may be less likely to pay attention to it(Konig, Renckstorf, & Wester, 1988), and may avoidtelevision news because of its masculine presentationcharacteristics (Vettehen, Schaap, & Schlosser, 2004). Thedates of these studies (1988, 1986)— would suggest


2005; 2006). Individuals engage in information seeking inorder to reduce uncertainty and obtain a sense of control(Brashears, et al., 2000; Berger, 1987). Information allowsindividuals to begin several remedial processes (Seeger,Sellnow & Ulmer, 2003), one of which is viewing how othersbehave in the given situation. This allows for a type ofvicarious learning to take place. Another process instigatedby information acquisition is the acquisition of a sense ofcontrol. When individuals are able take some action duringthe crisis a sense of empowerment can be fostered, thuscreating an impression that the individual has some control inthe situation. However, to be effective and trigger theseprocesses, messages must first be received.

Generally, the management of natural disastersincludes a significant communication component in the formof warnings, risk messages, evacuation notifications,messages regarding self-efficacy, information regardingsymptoms and medical treatment, among many others.Different types of crises, however, manifest different formsof threat and require different communication patterns(Pauchant & Mitroff, 1992; Seeger, Sellnow & Ulmer, 2003).Further, different subpopulations will have different needsand communication patterns during crisis scenarios (Heath &Gay, 1997, Spence et al, 2005; 2006).

Age and Crisis/Risk ResearchA critical demographic variable that has received

attention in the risk and crisis literature is age (Griffin, et al.,1999; Spence et al, 2006). Risks may manifest that are moreimportant to particular age groups over others. For example,older, less mobile populations may be more concerned aboutevacuation efforts than younger, more mobile audiences. Inaddition, differences may be expected in how different agegroups obtain and rate information (Schafer et al, 1993).Men, those of younger age, and members of smallerhouseholds have been found to be less likely to engage inself-protective behaviors than women, older persons, andmembers of larger households (Schafer et al, 1993).


researcher bias into a view of women (habituated by mediaand pop cultural attitudes) as less “news” focused or engaged.

Further research also indicates that women may bemore reliant on radio and print media (Faber, Reese, &Steeves, 1985) for issue relevant information. However, crisisevents may produce a set of circumstances that may motivatewomen to look to vivid media. A study examininginformation seeking after 9/11 found that radio was moreuseful to women, but contrary to predictions, so wastelevision (Spence et al, 2006). Although this finding is notconsistent with past research, it might be a product of severalsituational factors. First, the study on media use and terrorismwas conducted in Israel; cultural differences may suggestlimited generalizability when considering past researchconducted on North American audiences. Further, whileprevious research has demonstrated that women findtelevision news uninteresting and too masculine, crisis eventsand risk messages may encourage the use of this mediumbecause of the severity of the occurrence, and the need forspecific timely, detailed, repetitive information. Given thatthe findings across past studies are mixed, it may beworthwhile to address a similar but more appropriate questionsuch as satisfaction with mediated messages in a crisis in anevent-specific context. Therefore, the following researchquestion is offered:

RQ2: How will males and females differ in perceivedadequacy of the information?

obtained from different media?

MethodParticipants and measures

After the evacuation of New Orleans, residents of theGulf coast found themselves homeless, many stayed incampgrounds, hotels, emergency shelters or with strangers.Without a permanent home and in need of food, water, andproper shelter, they were relocated to various parts of theUnited States. The target survey population of this study wasKatrina evacuees and one goal of this research was to obtaintimely data collection, therefore, the acquisition of an


accurate sampling frame was unrealistic, as such a list did notexist at that time.

In the first week after the evacuation of New Orleans,surveys were administered to Katrina evacuees who had beenrelocated to shelters or were in Disaster Centers in Cape Cod,Massachusetts, Lansing, Michigan, different parts of Indianaand Kentucky and federal aid distribution centers throughoutTexas. The questionnaires were four pages in length and self-administered. Originally, the target population was all Katrinarefugees from the Gulf Coast. However, less than 30 surveyswere completed from respondents from outside New Orleans.The decision was then made to examine displaced residentsof New Orleans as the population. In all, 935 questionnaireswere completed*. The surveys included items pertaining todemographic attributes, crisis preparation, informationseeking behaviors, and media identified as primary sources ofand for information.

Perceived Message AdequacyA total of ten Likert items aimed to evaluate

perceptions of message adequacy, using five point scalesranging from “Very Adequate” to “Very Inadequate.”Respondents were asked to report their perceptions of theadequacy of specific messages, such as those concerninggovernment response, food and water distribution, the scopeof the damage, etc. The mean score across these items wereused as an index of perceived message adequacy. Reliabilityfor the index was a = .95. Three single items were used asfurther indicators of perceived message accuracy.Respondents were asked to indicate on a five point scalefrom “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree” whether theyclearly understood what to do, whether they felt mediacoverage of the hurricane was accurate, and whether they feltthey received adequate information from officials.

1 While 935 surveys were identified as usable, many usable surveyscontained unreported data. For this reason, some analyses havefewer valid cases.


Importance of media sourcesParticipants were asked three single items pertaining

to the importance of various media sources in obtaininginformation about the storm. Specifically, they were asked toindicate whether interpersonal exchanges, television, andradio were “very important,” “important,” or “not important”resources for obtaining information about the hurricane in thetime leading up to and during the storm.

ResultsAge and media use

A series of one way ANOVAs were conducted toexplore the differences in mean scores for these items acrossage, which was collapsed into the following categories: under20, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, and 70 +.Mean scores were then compared across these categories forthe items measuring the importance of television, radio, andinterpersonal communication to obtain information after thestorm. The results of these comparisons across age revealsignificant differences for both radio, F (6,891) = 3.30,p<.003, G2 = .02, and television, F (6,892) = 4.08, p<.001, D2= .03. Post hoc Least Squared Differences comparisonsrevealed that evacuees under the age of 20 were less likely torely on radio than those in their thirties (p<.015), forties(p<.008), fifties (p< .016) or sixties (p<,044). For television,those in their twenties were less likely than those in theirthirties (p<.001), forties (p<.001), fifties (p< .018) or sixties(.002) to state that they relied on the medium for informationabout the storm.

Sex differences in perceived adequacyIn order to explore sex differences in perceptions of

message adequacy, a series of /-tests examined thedifferences between men and women on the variablesmeasuring the clarity of official advice, how well theyunderstood instructions, accuracy of media coverage, and theoverall adequacy of crisis messages. The results suggest thatmen (M= 2.80, 5Z>=1.63) were more likely to understandinstructions from mediated sources than were women (M=


2.43, '50=1.65), t (850) = 3.12, p<.002. Significantdifferences between men and women were not detected forperceptions of official advice, perceived accuracy of mediacoverage, or overall adequacy of crisis messages (see Table1).Table 1.

T-tests for Mean ComparisonsSex and Differences in Message Interpretation

Men Women t p<

Understanding 2.80 2.43 3.13 .002

PerceivedAdequacy

3.32 3.31 0.17 n.s.

Advice fromofficials

2.54 2.56 0.20 n.s.

Accuracy ofCoverage

3.15 3.07 0.69 n.s.

DiscussionDifferences in desire for information and usefulness

of information based on sex and age is an important area ofstudy, because currently risk and crisis messages are nottargeted with specific subpopulations in mind. Forcommunication to be effective it must be specific and tailoredto a target audience. Moreover, individual level theoriesabout media use and preference are absent in the crisisliterature. Further studies exploring demographic andpersonological differences need to be conducted in order to


move towards the development and testing of individual leveltheories of crisis and risk communication.

Reliance on radio and television increasedwith age. This is fairly consistent with past researchconcerning general patterns of media use. A substantive bodyof research (see Davis, 1971; Rubin & Rubin,1982; Liebert &Sprafkin, 1988; Condry, 1989; Harris, 1999) has suggested apositive correlation between age and dependence on media.However, much of this research suggests a displacementhypothesis, in which younger audiences are less likely to usetelevision and radio because of a greater reliance oninterpersonal channels and new media for information. Thecurrent data do not support this displacement logic, asdifferences in interpersonal communication were not detectedacross age categories. While interpersonal communicationmay replace television and radio in terms of generalinformation seeking, there may be other factors at play duringtimes of crisis which drive younger audiences away fromthese media or drive older audiences toward them. With thisrelatively consistent pattern of media consumption across ageduring crisis events future research should examine messagecharacteristics and persuasiveness across age and shouldfurther attempt to disentangle the relative appeal of televisionand radio as sources of crisis information for different agegroups.

Results indicated that men understood instructionsfrom mediated sources better than women. In general,research has demonstrated that women have a greater abilitythan men to send and receive certain forms of nonverbalcommunication (Briton & Hall, 1995; Burgoon & Dillman,1995). Women, therefore, may be more strongly affected bythe lack of or diminished presence of nonverbal cues inmediated communication. Moreover, while women also arebetter than men in decoding, understanding, and usingnonverbal cues sent by others (Briton & Hall, 1995; Kette &Konecni, 1995; LaFrance & Henley, 1994) they haveindicated higher levels of satisfaction with face to facecommunication (Knapp & Hall, 1997). Nonverbal cuestherefore, play a greater role in the communication behaviors


of women compared to men. The absence or diminishednature of these cues in mediated messages therefore mayimpact the understanding and satisfaction of messagesreceived by women. Therefore, even though women engagein higher levels of information seeking in crisis situations,they may be less likely than men to understand or be satisfiedwith the information received though mediated sources.Although women have displayed willingness to use morevivid media in times of crisis, it appears that comprehensionof messages is hurt in these instances. Crisis and riskmessages must not only be received, but must be understoodto be acted upon. Many messages that are sent over suchmediums are broad in nature and tend to be undifferentiatedin terms of a target audience. Research should therefore beginto examine how to best design messages for women usingvivid media.

LimitationsLimitations exist within this study that should be

considered in interpreting the results. The data were collectedover an uneven timeframe; some participants responded hoursafter they were evacuated, some days, and some after a week.This was, however, purely a result of the complex and timeconsuming process of locating and interviewing hurricaneevacuees. Future efforts should aim at obtaining audienceresponses at one time point, and as quickly as possible, inorder to reduce the likelihood of hindsight bias and memorydistortion in the responses.

Also, although some of the results can be applied todifferent types of crisis scenarios, caution should be usedwhen making such extrapolations. Relocations due toevacuation during different crisis types will by their naturehave different timelines. Further, this data set focused onthose who were from one particular geographic region (morespecifically one metropolitan area). Past research hasdemonstrated that informational needs after a crisis event canvary based on geographic location (Spence et al, 2005).


ConclusionMuch attention has been directed toward alerting

people to risks and planning for crises. Much less attentionhas focused on examining the specific media preferences andconsumption abilities of subpopulations. Further attention tocrisis prevention and evacuation is needed; mediatedmessages have a specific role in acknowledging actions thatshould be taken to minimize the harm to individuals affectedby a crisis event. As crises are occurring more frequently andbecoming larger in scope, frequency, and harm, the need formore precise message design and placement is required.Although there is much left to leam about the use ofcommunication before a crisis, the results of this study mayshed light on design and placement elements which minimizethe risk, duration and harm created by a crisis event.


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sex and age differences in use and perceptions of emergency messages during katrina

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