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The interplay between affect and theory of planned behavior variables.
Mario Keer1, Bas van den Putte, Peter Neijens
1Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.keer@uva.nl
American Journal of Health Behavior
|January 19, 2012
Summary
Affective evaluations of health behaviors do not moderate but partially mediate the influence of attitude and perceived behavioral control on intention, highlighting their importance in health communication strategies.
Area of Science:
- Health Psychology
- Behavioral Science
- Health Communication
Background:
- The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a prominent model for understanding health behavior intentions.
- Affective evaluations, or the feelings associated with a behavior, may play a crucial role in this process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether affective evaluations moderate or mediate the relationship between TPB variables (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) and behavioral intention.
- To examine the role of affective evaluations across 20 diverse health behaviors.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 300 participants.
- Participants completed validated questionnaire measures assessing affective evaluation, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention for 20 health behaviors.
- Path modeling was employed to analyze the proposed relationships.
Main Results:
- Affective evaluation did not significantly moderate the influence of TPB variables on intention.
- Affective evaluation partially mediated the influence of attitude on intention.
- Affective evaluation also partially mediated the influence of perceived behavioral control on intention.
Conclusions:
- Affective evaluations are important mediators in the TPB framework, particularly for attitude and perceived behavioral control.
- These findings suggest that targeting affective evaluations in health communication interventions could be an effective strategy to promote health behaviors.
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