Correlates of accurate knowledge of cancer

Knowledge acquisition, although a prerequisite of preventive behavior, has been a neglected area of research. Mass communication research shows that audience characteristics explain most of the variation in knowledge acquistion. Since cancer information is mainly disseminated via the media, we hypothesized that the same audience characteristics would be related to accuracy of cancer knowledge. Bivariate and multivariate associations between the hypothesized variables and a cancer knowledge score were tested using a three-stage random sample of Los Angeles County (N = 931). Smoking status, education, degree of cancer worry, health improvement behavior, ethnicity, age, household size, and frequency of health worry were related to knowledge accuracy. An examination of the underlying dimensions of cancer knowledge revealed three beliefs about cancer: smoking causes cancer; cancer can be cured; and the environment does not cause cancer. Smoking status, ethnicity, health improvement behavior, and worry about cancer and health were associated with the belief that smoking causes cancer. The independent variables in this study were not significantly related to the other two beliefs. These results conform with the general predictions of mass communication research. We conclude that targeting of cancer information and particular uses of media could raise the general level of cancer knowledge.