Does Cumulative Risk Fit into Single Risk Frameworks?: Examining the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) for Cumulative Environmental Health Risks

Models like the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) bring together empirically supported paths from across domains to predict general health risk information seeking and have been validated in disease-specific contexts. Environmental health risks are one area that have not been tested in this model nor has cumulative risk, which are risks that have multiple, compounding stressors and impacts. Measuring model fit for cumulative risks through a single risk framework could inform how a general risk framework may fit for complex, interacting hazards. Through a representative survey of US adults (n = 2,531), we tested whether PRISM fit for six single and cumulative environmental health risk experimental conditions. There was an adequate model fit for each condition. However, there was no complete support across each hypothesized path. Future additions to PRISM are discussed for a more robust cumulative risk information seeking model in the environmental health risk domain.