Attribution of Responsibility and Individual and Collective Coping with Environmental Threats

Summarizes many of the sources of stress that often accompany environmental threats, examines both individual and collective (IC) strategies for coping with environmental threats and the efficacy of these strategies, and discusses problems with measuring coping strategies (CPSs) and with gauging their success. The authors describe collective CPSs within the framework of social and institutional networks and consider why grass-roots citizen groups are often formed as a CPS and what needs these organizations fulfill. Research is presented on IC CPSs derived from an investigation that examined residents' CPSs in response to living near a large hazardous waste landfill.