GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES ABOUT FISH SAFETY IN A COASTAL POPULATION

Behavioral approaches to reducing the adverse health effects of consum ing fish with high contaminant levels benefit from understanding attit udes and perceptions about the relative safety of fish. Gender differe nces in attitudes about fish safety were investigated by interviewing 197 men and 94 women who attended a Duck Decoy show at Tuckerton, NJ. There were significant gender differences in perceptions of the safety of fish, ducks, and deer, with women generally believing that it was less safe to eat these foods than did men. Although people correctly p erceived that ocean fish were safer than bay-caught fish from a chemic al contaminant perspective, perceptions were less clear with respect t o consuming predatory or herbivorous, or large versus small fish. Alth ough men significantly perceived small fish as safer than large fish, women did not. However, people correctly believed that bluefish (a pre daceous fish) were less safe than flounder (an herbivore). People unif ormly believed it was safer to eat fish they caught themselves or boug ht in a fish store than those from a supermarket. These results sugges t that any program to inform the public about the potential dangers fr om contaminated fish should take into account gender differences in pe rceptions.