Table 1.
Prevalence of tap water and bottled water safety perceptions according to characteristics of survey respondents: US adults aged ≥18 years (n 3787), 2010 HealthStyles Survey
| Local tap water perceptions | Bottled water perceptions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘My local tap water is safe to drink’ | ‘Bottled water is safer than tap water’ | |||||||
| Disagree | Neutral | Agree | P value | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | P value | |
| n | 456 | 679 | 2652 | – | 960 | 1365 | 1462 | – |
| Weighted %* | 13·0 | 19·2 | 67·9 | 26·4 | 37·4 | 36·2 | ||
| Age (years) | ||||||||
| 18–34 | 14·9 | 23·5 | 61·6 | <0·0001 | 29·6 | 40·5 | 29·9 | <0·0001 |
| 35–54 | 15·1 | 19·0 | 65·9 | 26·9 | 36·5 | 36·6 | ||
| ≥55 | 8·3 | 15·1 | 76·6 | 22·6 | 35·5 | 41·9 | ||
| Sex | ||||||||
| Male | 12·3 | 19·9 | 67·1 | 0·5 | 27·0 | 37·3 | 35·8 | 0·8 |
| Female | 13·5 | 19·4 | 67·1 | 26·0 | 37·6 | 36·5 | ||
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 10·8 | 16·9 | 72·4 | <0·0001 | 21·8 | 38·0 | 40·2 | <0·0001 |
| Non-Hispanic black | 19·9 | 24·5 | 55·6 | 40·0 | 34·6 | 25·4 | ||
| Hispanic | 16·0 | 24·9 | 59·2 | 34·1 | 38·0 | 28·0 | ||
| Non-Hispanic other | 18·0 | 22·4 | 59·6 | 36·6 | 34·6 | 28·8 | ||
| Income | ||||||||
| <$US 25 000 | 15·3 | 25·4 | 59·4 | <0·0001 | 34·3 | 38·6 | 27·1 | <0·0001 |
| $US 25 000–59 999 | 14·1 | 17·1 | 68·8 | 22·9 | 41·3 | 35·9 | ||
| ≥$US 60 000 | 10·8 | 17·4 | 71·8 | 24·8 | 33·9 | 41·3 | ||
| Education | ||||||||
| <High school | 17·0 | 19·7 | 63·3 | <0·0001 | 40·0 | 28·6 | 31·4 | <0·0001 |
| High school | 15·1 | 19·4 | 65·5 | 27·5 | 41·7 | 30·8 | ||
| Some college | 16·1 | 21·9 | 62·1 | 29·5 | 39·4 | 31·1 | ||
| College graduate | 7·1 | 15·4 | 77·5 | 19·9 | 33·4 | 46·7 | ||
| Self-reported diabetes | ||||||||
| Diabetes | 11·2 | 20·0 | 66·8 | 0·5 | 33·3 | 37·9 | 28·8 | 0·0001 |
| No diabetes | 13·2 | 19·1 | 67·8 | 25·4 | 37·4 | 37·2 | ||
| Physical activity level | ||||||||
| Inactive | 16·5 | 21·1 | 62·5 | 0·004 | 28·2 | 36·6 | 35·2 | 0·3 |
| Insufficiently active | 13·3 | 18·3 | 68·4 | 28·2 | 35·7 | 36·1 | ||
| Active | 11·6 | 18·9 | 69·5 | 25·1 | 38·4 | 36·5 | ||
| Region | ||||||||
| New England | 4·2 | 18·5 | 77·4 | <0·0001 | 35·1 | 31·5 | 33·4 | <0·0001 |
| Middle Atlantic | 15·5 | 20·3 | 64·2 | 22·9 | 40·6 | 36·5 | ||
| South Atlantic | 11·6 | 21·6 | 66·8 | 27·1 | 35·6 | 37·4 | ||
| East North Central | 14·6 | 14·5 | 70·9 | 27·2 | 38·5 | 34·2 | ||
| East South Central | 8·1 | 23·2 | 68·7 | 25·0 | 32·6 | 42·3 | ||
| West North Central | 5·6 | 17·1 | 77·3 | 13·4 | 48·7 | 37·9 | ||
| West South Central | 20·1 | 20·9 | 59·0 | 34·6 | 33·0 | 32·4 | ||
| Mountain | 13·7 | 15·3 | 71·0 | 24·1 | 36·6 | 39·2 | ||
| Pacific | 14·3 | 20·2 | 65·6 | 30·5 | 35·1 | 34·4 | ||
| Agree bottled water is safer than tap | 21·5 | 31·2 | 47·4 | <0·0001 | – | – | – | – |
| Neutral bottled water is safer than tap | 12·9 | 20·8 | 66·3 | – | – | – | – | |
| Disagree bottled water is safer than tap | 6·8 | 8·7 | 84·5 | – | – | – | – | |
| Disagree home tap water is safe | – | – | – | – | 43·8 | 37·2 | 19·0 | <0·0001 |
| Neutral home tap water is safe | – | – | – | – | 42·9 | 40·6 | 16·5 | |
| Agree home tap water is safe | – | – | – | 18·5 | 36·6 | 45·0 | ||
*All percentages weighted based upon sex, age, income, race and household size; because of rounding, weighted percentages may not add up to 100 %.