Self-esteem and the relation between risk behavior and perceptions of vulnerability to unplanned pregnancy in college
G E Smith1, M Gerrard, F X Gibbons
1Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, USA. g_smith@fre.fsu.umd.edu
Abstract:
This article reports 2 studies testing the hypothesis that individuals with high self-esteem are more likely than those with low self-esteem to interpret information about their personal vulnerability to health risks in a self-serving manner. Study 1 used an experimental paradigm to demonstrate that self-esteem moderates the influence of review of sexual and contraceptive behavior on college women's perceptions of vulnerability to unplanned pregnancy (N = 125). Study 2 used a longitudinal design to demonstrate that self-esteem also moderates the relation between naturally occurring changes in college women's sexual behavior and changes in their risk perception (N = 273). Together, these studies provide evidence that people with high self-esteem use self-serving cognitive strategies to maintain their risk perceptions.
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