Individuals’ perceptions of their cancers’ risks stemming from environmental factors : overview, relationships with adoption of health-related behaviors and determinants.

Summary Objectives: (1) To explore and analyze individual perceptions of all-cause cancer risk and environmental factors. (2) To investigate the links between these perceptions and the adoption of health behaviors. (3) To identify and analyze the determinants of these perceptions. Methods: Reviews of the empirical and theoretical literature, qualitative study with people with and without a history of cancer, quantitative study with a representative sample of the French population. Results: (1) Cancer risks related to environmental factors are a matter of concern. A significant proportion of participants perceived themselves to be at risk of developing cancers related to air pollution, pesticides and stress. (2) Health behavior adoption is sometimes associated with risk perceptions but is more often associated with adherence to prevention beliefs and time and risk preferences. Taking endogeneity into account has a strong impact on the significance of associations between perceptions and behaviors. (3) Adherence to cancer-related beliefs and salience of environment-related cancer risks determine perceptions more strongly than affect and availability heuristics, knowledge, perceived control and perceived willingness to accept risk exposures, personal health history, and sociodemographic characteristics. Discussion: Our results, consistent with the literature, provide a better understanding of individual risk perceptions and can be used to support the development of targeted public health policies.