As identity theft and data security breaches occur in the United States within government and private organizations both public opinion and sample member‘s willingness to provide personal identifiable information are impacted. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has reported that Identity theft within

households has increased by 23% from 2005 to 2007. In the article ―Identity Theft Reported by Households, 2007- Statistical Tables‖, the BJS reports that in 2007 alone, 7.9 million households which accounts for 6.6% of all households in the United States have been a victim to one or more types of identity theft. Public opinion is commonly formed by personal experience or events that are reported in the media. One of the most headlined security breaches that occurred recently in 2006 was a stolen U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) laptop that contained the names, social security numbers, and date of births of 26 million plus veterans. With identity theft rates increasing and events of security breaches being reported in the media, we perceive that research study participants are conscious and skeptical on providing personal identifying information. In our presentation we intend to demonstrate how identity theft and data security breaches in the United States may have influenced sample member‘s willingness to provide personal identifiable information on a cross-sectional project that collected data in 2004 and 2008. We will analyze sample members‘ responses to questions during web and telephone data collection modes that attempt to obtain personal information such as social security number, age, sex, income, employment status and race.