Increasing Women's Calcium Intake: The Role of Health Beliefs,Intentions, and Health Value1

Undergraduate women who varied in how much they valued health were exposed to written communications persuading them of their vulnerability to osteoporosis and of the effectiveness of a recommended action in preventing this disease. Vulnerability had a significant main effect on intentions and subsequent behavior. This effect was obtained regardless of how much the subjects valued their health or whether the coping response was effective. Intentions to perform the recommended behaviors proved to be the best predictors of self-reported and actual behavior change, in support of the Ajzen-Fishbein (1980) model. Intentions, in turn, were predicted from recipients' beliefs regarding their ability to perform the behavior, their vulnerability to the health threat, and the effectiveness of the recommended threat-reducing response. Implications of these findings for health promotion campaigns are discussed.     

Predicting Contraceptive Behavior Among University Men: The Role of Emotions and Behavioral Intentions1

This research employed two theories to predict contraceptive behavior (condom use) among university men. The sexual behavior sequence (Byrne, 1977, 1983) hypothesizes that erotophobia-erotophilia (negative to positive emotional response to sexuality) will generalize and mediate avoidance or approach of contraception. The theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) hypothesizes that condom use behavior (B) is a function of behavioral intentions (BI) to perform this act; BI is hypothesized to be a function of attitudes towards the act (Aact) and relevant subjective norms (SN), and Aact and SN in turn have hypothesized basic determinants (). In addition, the theory of reasoned action holds that variables external to this model (i.e., erotophobia-erotophilia) may only affect behavior indirectly, by affecting the model's components. To test these assumptions, 145 undergraduate males completed measures of erotophobia-erotophilia and BI, Aact, SN, and and with respect to condom use in the coming month; a one month follow-up measure of B was also obtained. Results confirmed each of the hypothesized relationships and showed that for subjects who had sex during the month under study (N= 44), erotophobia-erotophilia and behavioral intentions were related to condom use (r= .33, r= .44, p < .05). Moreover, in contrast to the assumption of the theory of reasoned action, erotophobia-erotophilia and intentions independently predicted condom use; the linear combination of these factors predicted condom use significantly better (R= .57, p < .001) than either factor taken singly. Conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Increasing the Salience of Risky Sexual Behavior: Promoting Interest in HIV-Antibody Testing Among Heterosexually Active Young Adults1

The present study examines whether making the risk associated with unsafe sexual behavior more salient would increase interest in HIV testing. The HIV-related beliefs and behaviors reported by a sample of college students were assessed both before and after they had viewed a vulnerability-oriented film about HIV/AIDS. Viewing the film heightened sexually active participants' belief that they might currently be HIV seropositive. Among participants who were currently sexually active, heightened perceptions of risk and concern about sexual behavior predicted intentions to utilize HIV testing services (controlling for initial risk perceptions and behavior). Those who engaged in behaviors related to HIV testing during the 4-week period after the film had expressed stronger HIV intentions and more pronounced feelings of anxiety and concern about prior sexual behavior. These results suggest that risk-enhancing interventions can stimulate interest in HIV testing.     

Signing an Organ Donation Letter: The Prediction of Behavior From Behavioral Intentions1

The signing of an organ donation letter was examined among 149 unmarried university students. The letter was developed for the purpose of conveying one's wishes regarding posthumous donation to one's next of kin. Predictors of letter signing were examined that explain hypothesized inconsistencies between the behavioral intention to sign and actual letter-signing behavior. Respondents were offered the opportunity to sign and send the donation letter to their parents. As predicted, reported willingness to sign the letter was only moderately related to actual behavior. Decision confidence, organ donation knowledge, and perceived decision importance positively influenced signing, independent of willingness. Unfavorability toward defending one's donation decision to one's parents inhibited signing, even among those expressing a high initial willingness to sign.     

Predicting Women's Intentions to Leave Abusive Relationships: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior1

A theoretically derived decision‐making model was applied to predict women's intentions to remain in or to terminate physically abusive relationships with male partners. Participants were 48 women residing in a shelter for battered women who responded to questionnaires assessing the components of the theory of planned behavior. Data provided support for the model. Specifically, women were found to have greater intentions to leave the relationships if they held positive attitudes toward leaving and believed they were in control of leaving the relationship. Normative beliefs were not predictive of intentions to leave. Empirically based suggestions for increasing the effectiveness of interventions are discussed.     

Relationships Between Conscientiousness Sub-Factors and Constructive and Destructive Behavioral Intentions

This study examined the relationship between Conscientiousness, its sub-factors of Achievement and Dependability, and constructive and destructive behavioral intentions. In a sample of 270 undergraduate students, scores on personality measures were correlated with constructive and destructive behavioral tendencies as measured by responses to scenario situations. Results indicated that both Achievement and Dependability were negatively related to destructive behavioral intentions. As hypothesized, the relationship between Achievement and constructive behavioral intentions was significantly higher than the relationship between Dependability and constructive behavioral intentions. Contributions, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Testing Behavioral Consistency and Coherence with the Situation-Response Measure of Achievement Motivation

The Situation-Response (S-R) Measure of Achievement Motivation was developed to analyze the cross-situational consistency of achievement-related behavior. This measure was based on a conceptualization of achievement motivation that included the following three components: need to achieve, need to avoid failure, and perceived self-efficacy. Data obtained from 246 college students provided evidence for the validity of the new instrument. However, exploratory factor analyses performed on the items in the instrument indicated the presence of only two factors, namely Striving and Apprehensiveness. Regression analyses further indicated the possible inappropriateness of a theoretically-based difference score, which combined the striving and apprehensiveness composites into a resultant tendency. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test behavioral consistency of the responses to the S-R measure. Although all of the models tested had relatively poor fits with the data, the results (a) provided evidence for item-specific covariation that inflated the cross-situational correlations among the achievement-related composites of the S-R measure, and (b) indicated, after this item-specific covariation had been partialled out, a lack of support for second-order factors representing general achieving tendencies across situations. A final set of analyses indicated the presence of three distinct types of response patterns. These types were tentatively called socially anxious, cynically motivated, and anxiously striving. It was found that membership in one of these subgroups was more informative of an individual's pattern of achievement motivation than conventionally used personality tests.     

The Influence of Affective and Instrumental Beliefs on Exercise Intentions and Behavior: A Longitudinal Analysis

Programs encouraging exercise might reduce coronary illness. Ajzen's theory of planned behavior is a useful model for understanding exercise motivation. The current study investigated the contribution of the instrumental and affective components of attitude. As part of a community-based study of exercise behavior, 424 men and 572 women completed questionnaires, with 365 participants providing 6-month follow-up data. Regressions highlighted the affective component as a much more powerful predictor of intention compared to the instrumental component. After controlling for prior exercise, intention was not predictive of later exercise, although the affective component was. The implications for exercise promotion are discussed.     

Returning to Work Following Childbirth: The Relationship Between Intentions and Behavior

College women's intentions to return to work following childbirth were compared to behavior 10 years later. Using an Ajzen-Fishbein model, college intentions were significantly related to how soon a mother returned to work after the birth of her first child. The amount of variance explained was significant for intentions and behavior. College intentions were influenced by perceived consequences, approval of significant referents, and personal control. Return to work was predicted by intention to do so, even though the behavior occurred an average of seven years after the intention was declared. This behavior was more likely to occur among those who had a sense of personal control.     

Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior: A Study of Women's Participation in Collective Action

The present study tests the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior in the context of women's participation in collective action. Participants were 387 women who completed two questionnaires with an interval of 1 year. In the first questionnaire, participants were asked to provide measures of attitudinal, normative, and control factors, as well as measures of intention to participate in 4 group-related activities over the coming year. One year later in the second questionnaire, the same women provided measures of the degree to which they had actually participated in these behaviors during the course of the year. Findings showed strong relationships between attitudinal factors and intentions, and between intentions and behavior. The addition of perceived behavioral control, as specified by the theory of planned behavior, made little difference in regression analyses. Further analyses focused on the mediating role of identification as an activist. This revealed that attitudinal considerations were only important in the prediction of intention for those individuals with a weaker sense of themselves as activists. It is suggested that expectancy-value calculations may be less important in predicting the intentions of strongly committed individuals to engage in group-relevant acts.     

Predicting Mothers' Intentions to Limit Frequency of Infants' Sugar Intake: Testing the Theory of Planned Behavior1

This study examines the ability of the Theory of Planned Behavior to account for mothers' intentions to limit the frequency of their infants' sugar consumption. One group of mothers (experimental) was exposed to a dental health education program designed to promote this behavior, the other (control) group was not. Each group of mothers was interviewed twice; the intervention was delivered to mothers in the experimental group immediately after their first interview. The interviews incorporated measures of the key constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitudes to behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions). Results indicated that the addition of perceived behavioral control resulted in small but significant increments in the amount of explained variance in intentions, thereby supporting the theory. Although the change in intentions to perform the advocated behavior was not significantly greater in the experimental group than in the control group, there was a significant change in attitudes to the behavior in the experimental group but no such change in the control group. Moreover, amount of change in behavioral intentions was significantly correlated with amount of change in attitudes, but not with amount of change in subjective norms or perceived behavioral control. Analysis of behavioral beliefs indicated that the attitude change reflected a change in a specific behavioral belief that was targeted in the intervention. Further analyses focused on the role played by direct experience of the behavior and show that such experience tended to enhance the role of perceived behavioral control in intention formation, apparently because mothers who have older children have discovered that they have relatively little control over frequency of child's sugar consumption. The implication of these results for the Theory of Planned Behavior are discussed.     

Understanding Seat-Belt Intentions and Behavior: A Decision-Making Approach1

In an experimental study designed to investigate a decision-making model of seat-belt use, 227 employees of an agrochemical company participated in a health information program in which they watched either a videotape on seat belts or a control videotape and completed questionnaires immediately afterward and at 3 months and 1 year after exposure. In terms of total effects, the seat-belt videotape influenced beliefs, fear, and intentions assessed immediately after exposure, but had no effect on self-reported frequency of belt use at 3 months or 1 year. A full path analysis indicated some support for the decision-making model. In particular, probability difference (the perceived reduction in risk of death or serious injury due to wearing a belt) had a large influence on intentions to wear a belt and partly mediated the effect of the videotape on intentions. Reported frequency of belt use at 3 months was influenced both by post-test intentions and by initial frequency of belt use. Similarly, belt use at 1 year was affected by belt use at 3 months and by initial belt use. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of subjective probabilities and habitual factors in seat-belt use.     

Predicting Exercise and Health Behavioral Intentions: Attitudes,Subjective Norms,and Other Behavioral Determinants1

By comparing exercise and health domains, the current experiment extends recent findings that within‐participant analyses of attitudes and subjective norms predict behavioral intentions well (Finlay, Trafimow, & Moroi, 1999). Within‐participant analyses show that health behaviors are particularly likely to be influenced by subjective norms, and those that are relatively normatively influenced are intended to be performed more than those that are not. However, neither was true of exercise behaviors. Additionally, other potential predictors for exercise (e.g., indirect attitudinal measures and goal‐oriented attitudes and intentions) correlated more strongly with exercise behavioral intentions than did general health attitudes and intentions.     

A Comparison of Health Behavior Constructs: Social Psychological Predictors of AIDS-Preventive Behavioral Intentions

The present study focused on predicting AIDS-preventive behavioral intentions (i. e., intentions to discuss AIDS-related information and to use condoms) from constructs taken from the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action/planned behavior, and social cognitive theory. Questionnaire data were collected from 124 undergraduates using scales from previously published work as well as some new measures designed for this study. Perceived behavioral control, perceived risk, attitudes, self-efficacy, subjective norms, negative expected outcomes, and perceived severity of HIV infection were correlated with at least one intention measure; but regression analyses showed that perceived behavioral control was the strongest independent predictor of condom use intentions and of intentions to discuss AIDS information with a partner. Implications for theory and application are discussed.     

The Effects of Information About AIDS Risk and Self-Efficacy on Women's Intentions to Engage in AIDS Preventive Behavior1

Female college students' perceived vulnerability to AIDS and their perceived self-efficacy regarding AIDS preventive behavior (APB), were manipulated in a 2 × 2 design. Consistent with protection motivation theory (e. g., Rogers. 1983), the results showed that intention to engage in APB was highest among subjects who received information that their risk of getting infected with HIV was high, and who experienced relatively high feelings of self-efficacy. These subjects also seemed least likely to engage in denial of their AIDS risk. The implications of these findings for AIDS education programs are discussed.     

Health Beliefs and Intentions: Predictors of Return Compliance in a Tuberculosis Detection Drive1

A prospective design was employed to study the ability of various factors to predict return compliance in a tuberculosis detection drive. Five hundred fiftythree participants in the drive were asked to complete a questionnaire tapping their views of TB (based on the Health Belief Model) and their intentions to return for the recommended skin test reading. Behavioral intention was found to be an important predictor of return rates, and the inclusion of the HBM variables aided in the classification noncompliers. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Effects of Patients' Age,Gender, and Depression on Medical Students' Beliefs,Attitudes, Intentions,and Behavior1

This study examines the effects of patient age, gender, and depression on 88 advanced medical students' beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Each subject heard an audiotaped patient portrayal. Patient age (32 or 67 years), gender, and depressive symptoms varied in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design. All of the patients reported the same symptoms except that half of them also presented symptoms of depression. Questionnaires assessed beliefs about the patient's condition, attitudes toward the patient, treatment intentions, and recall of patient information. Expectations of an age bias were not substantiated. Females were rated less seriously ill, less likely to require laboratory tests, and more likely to receive medication than males. Among depressed patients, counseling and reassurance were more likely for females, and a nonpsychiatric consult was more likely for males. Recall of the symptoms presented was better for depressed patients. The implications for medical practice are discussed.     

Distinguishing Between Perceived Behavioral Control and Self-Efficacy in the Domain of Academic Achievement Intentions and Behaviors

We examined whether perceived behavioral control (PBC) and self-efficacy (S-E) can be distinguished empirically, and whether they make different contributions to the prediction of intentions and behavior. The behavioral criterion was performance in 3 high-school examinations. Measures of attitude, subjective norm, PBC, S-E, and intention were taken before the examinations. Grade achieved served as the behavioral measure. Factor analysis of items intended to measure PBC and S-E extracted 2 factors: confidence in ability to achieve the behavioral outcome, and belief that the outcome can be influenced by own efforts. Scores on these factors were labeled S-E and perceived control, respectively. Behavior was predicted better by S-E than by intentions, and intentions were more closely related to S-E than to attitudes, subjective norms, or perceived control.     

Social Cognitions and Past Behavior as Predictors of Behavioral Intentions Related to Cardiovascular Health

The present study assessed the usefulness of social cognitions shared by several health behavior models for predicting behavioral intentions regarding cardiovascular health, independent of past/current behavior. Over 800 adolescents were administered a cross-sectional survey measuring intentions (regarding cigarette use, fat consumption, physical exercise), social cognitions (severity, vulnerability, benefits, self-efficacy), and past/current behavior. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for past/current behavior, showed a varied predictive profile across behavioral intentions. Severity estimates predicted intended cigarette use and fat consumption, while perceived benefits predicted intended physical activity. However, self-efficacy predicted intentions consistently. Collectively, social cognitions contributed an additional 0.8%, 2.5%, and 11. 6%, of the variance in smoking, dietary fat, and exercise intentions, over and above past/current behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are considered.     

Sexual Self‐Control and Male Condom‐Use Outcome Beliefs: Predicting Heterosexual Men's Condom‐Use Intentions and Behavior1

A model of condom‐use intentions and behavior that we previously developed for women was replicated and extended with heterosexual men (n= 203; M age = 20.1 years). The general determinants of intentions to use condoms were consistent for men and women. The predictors of general condom attitudes and condom‐use self‐efficacy differed across gender. Male condom‐use outcome beliefs and sexual self‐control emerged as predictors of sexually experienced men's condom attitudes and self‐efficacy, respectively. In a 3‐month follow‐up, intentions and sexual self‐control predicted condom‐use behavior. These findings have implications for specificity vs. generality in the correlates of common behaviors across groups, the study of gender differences in condom use, and the development of intervention content targeted to specific populations.