Multiple Causes of Stress in the Context of Radiation Risk

In the presence of a threat from radiation, such as that posed by exposure to contamination caused by the Chernobyl accident, people are actually confronted with a variety of 'threats'. These include a mixture of components having objective and subjective elements. The management of countermeasures, in particular, contributes to the definition of the situation which labels the threats people encounter. Some findings from the affected areas in the former Soviet Union are discussed to demonstrate the impact of several factors on the affect response of the population.