Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk: A Theoretical - ETR Associates

Although attitudes involve likes and dislikes (orfavorable or unfavorable assessments), people alsocan be neutral or ambivalent about some things (i.e.,they can simultaneously like and dislike somethingor favor or disfavor something, or be uncertain ofhow they feel). And they can have no thoughts orattitudes at all about some things.Attitudes and beliefs. The distinctions betweenattitudes and other psychological concepts, such asbeliefs and values, are not always clear because theysometimes overlap. In general, attitudes are differentfrom beliefs in that attitudes must include anaffective component and beliefs do not (Fishbeinand Ajzen 1975; Abelson and Prentice 1989). Thatis, people can have beliefs about many things, butif those beliefs do not have affective componentsassociated with them, then they are simply beliefs,not attitudes. For example, “to be most effective,condoms should be put on the penis before the penisgoes into the vagina” is a belief, but “I do not likecondoms because they have to be put on just beforeintercourse and interrupt the mood” is an attitude.Attitudes and values. Attitudes also are differentfrom values, although again the distinction isnot always clear. Our values are what we considerimportant or of great worth. Generally, we apply theterm “values” to more fundamental things, such ashealth or freedom, rather than more specific, superficialthings, such as history class, cleaning house orchocolate ice cream. Values nevertheless can includea wide variety of items or qualities, such as respect,honesty, caring, meaningful relationships, trust,responsibility, family, education, money, success,freedom, power and citizenship.Values can serve as guidelines to help us makedecisions about larger life choices and individualbehaviors. As a general rule, when we act in accordancewith our own values, we tend to feel goodabout ourselves and our actions. When we act ina way that violates our values, we tend to feel badabout ourselves and our actions. Thus, our valuesaffect how we feel about the rightness or wrongnessof things. Some psychologists believe that manyvalues are determined rather early in life and maybe partly genetically determined (D’Onofrio, Eaveset al. 1999). However, values also evolve as we gainexperience during our lifetimes.Many of the principles for changing attitudes alsoapply to addressing values and changing beliefs.Thus, most of the remainder of this chapter will talkabout attitudes, but also will apply to beliefs andvalues (to the extent that the latter can be changed).Impact on behavior. Attitudes, values and beliefsare important because they influence behavior.They play an important role in numerous theoriesof health behavior, such as the theory of reasonedaction (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975) the theory ofplanned behavior (Ajzen and Madden 1986), socialcognitive theory (Bandura 1986) and the information-motivation-behavioralskills model (Fisher andFisher 1992).According to Petty, Barden and Wheeler (Petty,Barden et al. 2002), experimental research demonstratesthat attitudes are one of the most importanttheoretical constructs affecting behavior. In manypsychological models, attitudes affect intentions,which in turn affect behavior (see Figure 1-1 inChapter 1).The impact of attitudes on behavior is determined byseveral factors:1. Direction: If an attitude toward a behavior ispositive, then people are more likely to engage inthat behavior; if the attitude is negative, peopleare less likely to engage in that behavior.2. Strength: If an attitude is stronger, it will have agreater effect on behavior.3. Specificity: If an attitude is more specific, it willhave a greater effect on behavior (“I do not likecondoms because they reduce sensation” versus “Ido not like to use protection against pregnancy orSTDs”).4. Relevance: If an attitude is more relevant to aperson’s life and behavior, it will have a greatereffect on that behavior.56 Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk: A Theoretical Guide for Developing and Adapting Curriculum-Based Programs