Predicting Undergraduate Condom Use with the Fishbein and Ajzen and the Triandis Attitude-Behavior Models: Implications for Public Health Interventions1

The present study used two social-psychological theories of attitude-behavior relationships to investigate condom use by college undergraduates. One purpose of the present research is to provide information for public health practitioners to better design theory-based interventions to reduce the incidence of STD's by increasing the use of condoms. Another purpose is to compare the relative usefulness of two attitude-behavior models in predicting condom use. The Fishbein and Ajzen theory of reasoned action (Ajzen, 1988; Fishbein & Ajzen. 1980) was compared with a version of Triandis' theory of attitude-behavior relations (Triandis, 1977). Of major interest was whether variables in this version of the Triandis model increased the explanatory power of the Fishbein and Ajzen model in the prediction of condom use intention and behavior. In addition, specific outcome beliefs and normative beliefs held by subjects were used to predict condom use. One hundred and ninety college undergraduates were given a questionnaire designed to measure the components of the two models. Three months after completing the questionnaire, subjects were contacted by phone to record the subject's frequency of condom use (if the subject reported having had intercourse) during the 3-month period between initial assessment and follow-up. In the prediction of intention to use a condom, results indicate that one variable from the Triandis model, personal normative beliefs, increases the explanatory power offered by the expectancy value and normative belief components of the Fishbein and Ajzen model. In the prediction of reported condom use during the 3-month follow-up period, two variables from the Triandis model—perceived susceptibility and AIDS fear—significantly increased the predictive power of the Fishbein and Ajzen model. Based on these results, the authors propose an alternative model to explain undergraduate condom use. The implications of these findings for public health interventions to encourage the use of condoms is discussed.     

The Fishbein and Ajzen Theory of Reasoned Action Applied to Contraceptive Behavior: Model Variants and Meaningfulness1

Suggested modifications of the theory of reasoned action, which conceptualize the functional operation of the attitudinal and normative components in intention formation as separate, separate but contingent, and inseparable, are discussed. The model structures are examined with regard to the underlying psychological assumptions (psychological meaningfulness) and with regard to the required scale levels for the model variables, so that the results of model tests are invariant under the admissible scale transformations (formal meaningfulness). Using a procedure that combines “optimal scaling” with hierarchical regression analysis, the model variants are tested for women's (n= 89) and men's (n= 89) intentions to use contraceptive methods (pill, intrauterine device, condom, and natural methods) that require the model variables to be measured on interval scales. The results strongly favored the theory of reasoned action above the other model variants. Only for the subjective norm model was a better model fit found for a belief-only model compared to the original product-sum model. Gender differences were found with regard to the salient belief sets and the explanatory power of the normative model component.     

Seat Belt Attitudes, Habits, and Behaviors: An Adaptive Amendment to the Fishbein Model

One hundred thirty-four introductory psychology students participatcd in a longitudinal study of seat belt usage. The model of Fishbein and Ajzen was tested, as was the construct of habit within this context. Multiple regression analyses supported the basic Fishhein and Ajzen model predictions. Attitudes and subjective norms predicted intentions, which in turn predicted behavior. Furthermore, habit predicted behavior better than intention. The following nonspurious relationships were observed in cross-lagged panel correlation tests: influence from subjective norm to intention, influence from intention to attitude, influcnce from attitude to subjective norm, influence from behavior to habit, and, of course, influence from attitude to behavior. Discussion included further consideration of the Fishbein and Ajzen model, social adaptation theory, and implications for seat belt usage.     

Understanding Public Reaction to Energy Proposals: An Application of the Fishbein Model1

The Fishbein attitude model was applied to voter decision-making on an energy ballot proposal. Questionnaires were sent to a random sample of potential voters in Oregon's 1976 general election and dealt with the Nuclear Safeguards Initiative, a measure that would place restrictions on future nuclear power plants. Questionnaire items probed the attitude toward the act of voting “Yes” on the measure (A_act), perceived likelihood of various consequences of voting “Yes” (B_i), evaluations of these consequences (e_i), the subjective norm (SN), normative beliefs (NB_i), motivation to comply with several referents (Mc_i), and voting intention (VI). A follow-up interview determined the actual voting behavior (VB) of persons responding to the questionnaire. The following model predictions were tested and strongly supported by the data: (a) VB=VI; and (e) external variables have a nonsignificant relation to VB once VI is partialled out. It was concluded that the Fishbein model should be extremely useful in understanding public reaction to future energy proposals.     

An Examination of the Relative Impact of Normative Information and Self-Efficacy on Personal Goals and Performance Over Time1

A model of goal-setting processes was developed that depicted the influence of previous performance, normative information, and self-efficacy on personal goals and performance. Three levels of normative information were manipulated in a counter-balanced fashion across two trials. Norms were hypothesized to have a greater influence than self-efficacy on personal goals for the first trial, whereas efficacy was hypothesized to have a stronger influence than norms on Trial 2 goals. A sample of 135 undergraduates completed a practice and two performance trials of a word game, and the results were analyzed using LISREL structural modeling techniques. Although the general hypothesized model fit fairly well, the specific results concerning the relative impact of norms and self-efficacy were opposite of the expected direction. Potential explanations for these results, and recommendations for future research are offered.     

An Examination of the Relative Impact of Assigned Goals and Self-Efficacy on Personal Goals and Performance Over Time

A model of goal-setting processes was developed that depicted the influence of previous performance, assigned goals, and self-efficacy on personal goals and performance. Three levels of assigned goals were manipulated in a counterbalanced fashion across two performance trials. Assigned goals were hypothesized to have a greater influence than self-efficacy on personal goals for the first trial, whereas efficacy was hypothesized to have a stronger influence than assigned goals on Trial 2 goals. Although the hypothesized model fit fairly well overall, the specific results concerning the relative impact of assigned goal and self-efficacy were not supported. In general, the observed trends indicated the effects were the opposite of what was expected. Potential explanations for these results and recommendations for future research are offered.     

Changing Contraceptive Usage Intentions: A Test of the Fishbein Model of Intention1

The Fishbein model of intention suggests that intention may change as a consequence of change in either a related attitudinal or normative component. This hypothesis was tested on intention to use contraceptives. Users and nonusers of contraceptives were exposed to a message designed to change contraceptive-usage attitude, to a message directed toward changing the normative beliefs associated with using contraceptives, or to a no-message control. The messages advocated one of three contraceptive techniques: (a) males were advised to use condoms, (b) males were advised to rely on their partner's use of oral contraceptives, or (c) females were advised to use oral contraceptives. Contraceptive-usage intention changed only in the two conditions where the model's requirements for change were present. Thus, the pattern of change agreed with Fishbein's suggestions and provided moderate support for the intention model and its application to intention change in health care settings.     

Beliefs and Attitudes in a Gubernatorial Primary: Some Limitations on the Fishbein Model1

In order to investigate hypothesized limitations on a portion of the Fishbein expectancy-value model, a three wave panel survey was conducted during the 1978 Texas Democratic gubernatorial primary. The survey elicited respondents' beliefs about the candidates, attitudes toward the candidates, and commitment to the candidates. Analyses revealed that the correlations between evaluative beliefs about candidates (Σe_ib_i) and global attitudes toward them (Ao) were affected to varying degrees by three factors extraneous to Fishbein's model. There was evidence that belief-attitude correspondence was affected by (1) respondent education and income, (2) degree of commitment to the candidates, and (3) familiarity with the candidates (salience).     

Self-Efficacy,Decision-Making,and Stages of Change: An Integrative Model of Physical Exercise1

Exercise has important health benefits but a large proportion of the population is physically inactive. We examined the stages of readiness to exercise and their relationship to self-efficacy, the costs and benefits of exercising, and self-report of physical activity in a sample of Rhode Island worksites. Using a three-step model-building approach, exploratory principal components analyses were followed by an examination of the stages of change model with confirmatory structural equation modeling procedures. The model was then examined with longitudinal data. Confirmatory and longitudinal analyses showed an excellent tit between the model and the data. Results indicated that the costs and benefits of exercise and self-efficacy for exercise were related to physical activity only indirectly, through the mediation of stage of readiness to exercise. Structural modeling fit indices revealed that much of the variation and covariation in physical activity was explained by the model. There is the potential to enhance the impact of exercise interventions, by targeting them so as to address factors related to these different stages of readiness.     

Predicting Stereotype Threat,Test Anxiety,and Cognitive Ability Test Performance: An Examination of Three Models

As the classroom and workplace, among other contexts, become more diverse in their population characteristics, the need to be aware of specific factors impacting testing outcome issues correspondingly increases. The focus in this study, among other purposes, was to identify possible interactions between examinee's individual-difference characteristics (e.g., personality) and characteristics of the testing environment on test anxiety reactions and cognitive ability test performance. This study assessed reactions and performance in 4 different testing conditions through a path-analytic testing of 3 well-established theoretical models of stress appraisal and coping (i.e., cognitive appraisal, personality trait, and transactional). The transactional model, incorporating both personality and testing condition factors, was best in predicting the variance associated with the cognitive ability test scores, the 3 test anxiety score indexes (i.e., social derogation, physical tenseness, and cognitive obstruction), and the stereotype threat scores. With personality traits, for example, agreeableness was a relatively strong and consistent predictor of all study measures. Regarding testing condition factors, only the manipulation of stereotype threat level (low or high) produced some significant accounting of variance. Higher perceived stereotype threat levels were generally associated with heightened stereotype threat belief perceptions, lower cognitive ability test scores, and, interestingly, reduced feelings of cognitive obstruction in test anxiety.     

Expectations About Initial Interaction An Examination of the Effects of Global Uncertainty

This inquiry extended uncertainty reduction theory to include actors’ uncertainty about acquaintanceship in general (global uncertainty). Study 1 involved examination of the self-reports of 139 female and 85 male participants. Results of the analysis showed that participants high in global uncertainty define initial interaction in comparatively negative ways, more frequently attempt to avoid conversations with unfamiliar targets, perform less effectively when meeting others for the first time, and develop less satisfactory long-term relationships than persons low in global uncertainty. Global uncertainty also combined with participants’ sense of the self-assuredness-awkwardness of first encounters to predict initial interaction performance. Study 2 examined the conversational performance of 48 females and 28 males who had participated in the first investigation. This analysis revealed that, during the first minute of interaction, persons high in global uncertainty engaged in comparatively low levels of question asking but relatively high levels of disclosure. High globally uncertain participants were also rated less competent by their partners than were persons low in global uncertainty. Study 3 explored the relationship between global uncertainty, communication competence, and communication apprehension. Examination of the self-reports of 63 females and 49 males showed that persons high in global uncertainty are apprehensive when meeting strangers and enact acquaintanceship episodes relatively inexpertly, although the magnitude of correlations between the constructs provide strong evidence that global uncertainty is distinguishable from both competence and apprehension. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Relations Between Body Image and Dieting Behaviors: An Examination of Gender Differences

Although links between body image and dieting behaviors have been established among women, little research is available to elucidate relations between these constructs among men. In the present study, we examined relations between men's and women's body image and healthy and unhealthy dieting behaviors. Two hundred and eight participants' (104 men, mean age = 25.88 years; 104 women, mean age = 23.87 years) body perceptions and body satisfaction were assessed using the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. Participants' dieting behaviors were assessed using the Weight Control Behavior Scale and weight status was assessed using body mass index (BMI). Analyses of relations among BMI, body satisfaction, and healthy dieting behaviors revealed a predictable pattern for both men and women; BMI was inversely related to body satisfaction and was positively related to healthy dieting behaviors. Body satisfaction was inversely related to both men's and women's healthy and unhealthy dieting behaviors. Further analyses of the relations between men's and women's body image and unhealthy dieting behaviors suggest different motives for men's and women's participation in these potentially health-compromising weight-management techniques. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to researchers' understanding of the gendered nature of body image and dieting behaviors.     

Safety Behaviors and Social Anxiety: An Examination of the Social Phobia Safety Behaviours Scale

The Social Phobia Safety Behaviours Scale (SPSBS) is a measure designed to identify and assess safety behavior use. The current study is the first to evaluate the psychometric properties of the English SPSBS. Using four samples (N?=?725), the component structure, validity, and ability of the SPSBS to function as a state measure were examined. The results of the principal component analyses suggest that the SPSBS is a two-component measure, consisting of an inhibitory behavior component and a management of physical symptoms component, and the scale has good internal consistency. The SPSBS also showed good concurrent validity in both clinical and nonclinical samples. Moreover, there was evidence to suggest that the SPSBS is an accurate measure of situational use of safety behaviors as compared to observers’ ratings. The results of this investigation show that the SPSBS is a useful tool for the identification and measurement of safety behaviors.     

An Examination of the Etiology of the Attitude-Behavior Relation for Goal-Directed Behaviors

The nature of the attitude-behavior relation was investigated by use of structural equation models in a cross-lagged panel design. The theory of reasoned action and an augmented version of the theory, which included the frequency and recency of past behavior as covariates, were tested. Respondents were 254 undergraduates who provided behavioral and psychological reactions over two points in time to two kinds of goal-directed behaviors: event-planned goals (i.e., trying to lose weight) and event-triggered goals (i.e., initiating a conversation with an attractive stranger). The findings show that the theory of reasoned action as classically formulated explains trying to lose weight well but initiating a conversation poorly. Further, the introduction of frequency and recency effects brings into question predictions under the theory of reasoned action. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed. A weighted least squares method is applied to the asymptotic covariance matrix based on appropriate polychoric and tetrachoric correlations. Variates are assumed measured on only ordinal scales.     

Southern College Students' Cheating Behaviors: An Examination of Problem Behavior Correlates

ABSTRACT

Understandings of cheating behavior by college students have focused on identifying rates at which students cheat and the identification of demographic characteristics. This paper focuses on demographic and other problem behaviors associated with cheating. Male and female samples from 12 southern colleges/universities are examined separately. Results show that males who cheat are more likely to be involved in four of seven other problem behaviors; females who cheat are likely to be involved in only one of seven other problematic behaviors. These findings suggest that cheating may be part of a larger problem behavior orientation for males but not females.     

Gender Roles: An Examination of the Hopes and Expectations of the Next Generation of Managers in Canada and China

Through a survey of 214 Canadian and 160 Chinese business students, we investigated students hopes and expectations regarding their future spouses employment and family roles relative to their own. The results of this exploratory study show that a large proportion of the students from both countries hope for equality between spouses, especially in the distribution of domestic tasks. However, significant discrepancies exist between their ideal hopes and their expectations of what will actually happen in reality. Many men and women of both countries expect that the wives will do more of the domestic work and have less prestigious jobs and lower earnings than their husbands. The between-sex and cross-national differences in gender role hopes and expectations were also explored.     

Training for Dangerous Task Performance: The Effects of Expectations and Feedback1

The training of individuals to perform dangerous tasks confronts theorists and practitioners with a critical issue: To what extent should individuals be exposed during training to stressors that characterize the conditions under which the task will eventually be performed? The present study evaluated two variables that might help resolve this dilemma. The first, a personality variable, consists of a person's generalized expectation that he or she will not be physically hurt while exposed to danger. The other, which is more sitution-specific, consists of the feeling of success or failure that the trainee experiences at the conclusion of training under physically dangerous conditions. The quality of soldiers' performance and the intensity of experienced stress were tested in a combat simulation. Individuals who tend to assign a low probability to their being physically injured in dangerous situations were found to benefit more from dangerous than from non-dangerous training. The opposite was found for individuals who assign a high probability to their being injured in dangerous situations. Moreover, exposure to serious physical threats during training yielded better training results than training that did not involve such threats only when the subjects concluded their training with a feeling of success. The subjective feelings of success or failure had no effect, however, under training conditions that did not expose trainees to danger. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

An Examination of the Cognitive Mechanisms by Which Assigned Goals Affect Task Performance and Reactions to Performance1

In this study, cognitive mechanisms by which assigned goals affect task performance and reactions to performance were examined. Subjects working on a creativity task were assigned one of three performance goals varying in difficulty. Ratings of subjective probability of goal attainment, expected performance, expected satisfaction with goal attainment, and desired performance were obtained prior to each of five blocks of trials. Ratings of satisfaction with performance were obtained after each trial block and ratings of ability were obtained after all trials were completed. As predicted, with increased goal difficulty, subjective probability of goal attainment decreased, but expected performance, expected satisfaction with goal attainment, and desired performance increased. Contrary to prediction, the effect of goal difficulty on task performance was not significant. LISREL analyses revealed that goal difficulty exerted both positive (through expected and desired performance) and negative (through subjective probability of goal attainment) effects on performance. Goal difficulty had a negative effect on satisfaction with performance and ratings of perceived ability. The importance of identifying the cognitive mechanisms by which assigned goals affect performance and the need to consider consequences of assigned goals other than task performance are discussed.     

Self-Efficacy and Problem Behaviors of School Bully Victims: Evidence from Rural China

Although the preventive role of self-efficacy for school bully has been well established, less is known as with the association between self-efficacy and problem behaviors adoption among children who are already school bully victims. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the clustered nature of problem behaviors among school bully victims and tested problem behavior clusters’ association with self-efficacy using latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression. Participants included 262 Chinese rural students who were recognized as being regularly bullied while without bullying behaviors in school in the past 3 months (60.1% male, age range 12–16). We found that the victims could be categorized into three different groups according to their problem behaviors pattern, namely the “externalizing and internalizing behaviors” group, the “internalizing behaviors” group, and the “less-affected” group. After controlling for the covariates (i.e., gender, age, living arrangement, and relationship quality with father and mother), we found that higher self-efficacy indicated higher probability of falling into the group with relatively less negative influence from school bullying. We also found that gender, living arrangement, and relationship quality with mother were associated with bully victims’ problem behaviors pattern. The comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing behaviors and self-efficacy’s association with different problem behavior patterns were discussed. The future research should test the causality between self-efficacy and problem behaviors of bully victims, as well as the effectiveness of self-efficacy enhancement intervention for victims adopting different problem behavior patterns.     

Stimulating the demand for dental care: An application of Ajzen and Fishbein's theory of reasoned action

Ajzen and Fishbein's attitude-behaviour model was applied to the problem of stimulating the demand for dental care, Subjects were 329 members of Amsterdam health insurance companies. They had not received regular dental treatment and/or a certificate of dental fitness for at least two and a half years. Applying for treatment and acquiring a dental certificate were the behavioural measures. The effectiveness of the communication based on Ajzen and Fishbein's model was compared with the effectiveness of messages based on the Health-Belief model and the notion that knowledge of Rights and Obligations is a prerequisite for seeking dental care. Results lend support to the validity of the Ajzen and Fishbein model. Relationships between the components of the model are moderate to strong, both before and after subjects were exposed to the message. The message proved effective in changing beliefs about seeking dental treatment. Ajzen and Fishbein's claim that their approach has exclusive merits, however, was refuted. A differential effectiveness of the three messages was absent. In all, 47.4 per cent applied for treatment. No control subjects applied. Fifteen months later 70 per cent of the applicants had obtained a dental certificate. Contrary to our expectations, a condition of no-message application-form- only proved equally effective as the message conditions.