The type of volunteer work in which older and younger adults engage may be part of the reason for these differential effects. But the context in which older and younger adults volunteer and the meaning of their voluntarism are more likely explanations. Researchers should take into account volunteer commitment when studying volunteering's effect on well-being, not simply volunteer role.

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A growing literature examines whether the poor, the working class, and people of color are disproportionately likely to live in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods. This literature assumes that environmental characteristics such as industrial pollution and hazardous waste are detrimental to human health, an assumption that has not been well tested. Drawing upon the sociology of mental health and environmental inequality studies, we ask whether industrial activity has an impact on psychological well-being. We link individual-level survey data with data from the U.S. Census and the Toxic Release Inventory and find that residential proximity to industrial activity has a negative impact on mental health. This impact is both direct and mediated by individuals' perceptions of neighborhood disorder and personal powerlessness, and the impact is greater for minorities and the poor than it is for whites and wealthier individuals. These results suggest that public health officials need to take seriously the mental health impacts of living near industrial facilities.A growing body of literature seeks to determine whether the poor, the working class, and people of color are disproportionately likely to live in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods (United Church of Christ 1987;Mohai and Bryant 1992;Hofrichter 1993; Anderton et al. 1994; Clarke and Gerlak 1998;Hockman and Morris 1998;Stretesky and Hogan 1998). An important underlying assumption of this literature is that the presence of negative environmental characteristics (such as industrial pollution, hazardous waste, and noise) and the absence of positive environmental characteristics (such as parks, trees, and open spaces) are detrimental to human health. However, while many researchers have addressed the issue of differential proximity and exposure to environmental hazards, the underlying assumption that environmental hazards negatively impact human health has been less well documented.We seek to remedy this shortcoming by asking whether industrial activity, measured at the neighborhood level, has a negative impact on individual psychological well-being. Drawing upon the sociology of mental health and environmental inequality studies we hypothesize that residential proximity to industrial activity has a negative impact on mental health and that this impact is both direct and mediated by individual perceptions of neighborhood * We are full coauthors. Data collection for the Community, Crime, and Health Survey was supported by a National Institute of Mental Health grant RO1 MH51558 to Catherine E. Ross and Chester Britt. We thank Ross and Britt for allowing us to use these data for this project. We also thank the American Sociological Association/National Science Foundation Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline, the East Carolina University Thomas In setting forth these hypotheses, we are not arguing that residential proximity to industrial activity is psychologically harmful because residents of industrial neighborhoods are disproportionately exposed...

Individual perception of risk has consistently been considered an important determinant of hurricane evacuation in published studies and reviews. Adequate risk assessment is informed by environmental and social cues, as well as evacuation intentions and past disaster experience. This cross-sectional study measured perceived flood risk of 570 residents of three coastal North Carolina counties, compared their perception with actual risk determined by updated flood plain maps, and determined if either was associated with evacuation from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Census blocks were stratified by flood zone and 30 census blocks were randomly selected from each flood zone. Seven interviews were conducted at random locations within selected blocks. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to produce crude and adjusted risk differences. Neither the designated flood zone of the parcel where the home was located nor the residents' perceived flood risk was associated with evacuation from Hurricane Isabel in the bivariate analysis. In the multivariable analysis, intention to evacuate and home type were important confounders of the association between actual risk and evacuation. The belief that one is at high risk of property damage or injury is important in evacuation decision making. However, in this study, while coastal residents' perceived risk of flooding was correlated with their actual flood risk, neither was associated with evacuation. These findings provide important opportunities for education and intervention by policymakers and authorities to improve hurricane evacuation rates and raise flood risk awareness.

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