Patterns and Determinants of Attitudes towards Genetic Risk of Cancer: Case Study in a Malaysian Public University

Table 2

Mean and standard deviation for beliefs on causes of cancer (N=272).

		Mean for science; (n=218)	Mean for arts; (n=54)	Overall Mean	Overall SD
(1)	Cancer diseases can be influenced by genetic factors.	4.3	3.7	4.2	0.838
(2)	Lifestyle changes (e.g., diet control and physical exercise) can prevent cancers.	3.9	4.0	4.0	0.864
(3)	People get cancer because of external (environmental) factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and exposure to radiation and chemical agents.	4.3	4.1	4.2	0.760
(4)	People get cancers because they are unlucky.	2.0	1.8	2.0	1.057

Note. 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for neutral, 4 for agree, and 5 for strongly agree.
Differences between science and arts stream respondents were significant at p < 0.01.