The influence of neighborhood disadvantage, collective socialization, and parenting on African American children's affiliation with deviant peers.

This study focused on hypotheses about the contributions of neighborhood disadvantage, collective socialization, and parenting to African American children's affiliation with deviant peers. A total of 867 families living in Georgia and Iowa, each with a 10- to 12-year-old child, participated. Unique contributions to deviant peer affiliation were examined using a hierarchical linear model. Community disadvantage derived from census data had a significant positive effect on deviant peer affiliations. Nurturant/involved parenting and collective socialization processes were inversely associated, and harsh/inconsistent parenting was positively associated, with deviant peer affiliations. The effects of nurturant/involved parenting and collective socialization were most pronounced for children residing in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Self-esteem, self-serving cognitions, and health risk behavior.

The current article reviews prospective and experimental research on the relation between self-esteem and perceptions of vulnerability. These studies demonstrate that individuals with high self-esteem who engage in risk behavior often utilize a variety of self-serving cognitive strategies that protect them from fully acknowledging their vulnerability to the potential negative consequences of their behavior; e.g., they minimize their estimates of personal risk and overestimate the prevalence of the risk behavior among their peers. The article also provides data on an additional self-serving cognitive strategy employed by adolescents with high self-esteem--alteration of perceptions of others' reactions to their own risk behavior. Finally, the article reviews the emerging literature on the relation between these cognitive strategies and maladaptive health behavior, and proposes that whether these strategies are maladaptive depends on the nature of the threat and the availability of opportunities to engage in compensatory self-enhancement.

Protection and vulnerability processes relevant for early onset of substance use: a test among African American children.

This research tested predictions from a self-regulation model of factors relevant for early onset of tobacco and alcohol use with a community sample of 889 African American children (mean age = 10.5 years). Criterion variables were peer substance use, willingness to use substances, and resistance efficacy (intention to refuse substance offers). Structural modeling indicated effects of temperament dimensions were mediated through self-control and risk-taking constructs, which were related to school involvement, life events, and perceived vulnerability to harmful effects of substances. Peer use was predicted by life events, poor self-control, and parent-child conflict; willingness was predicted by life events, risk taking, and (inversely) parental support; and resistance efficacy was predicted by perceived vulnerability and (inversely) poor self-control. Findings are discussed with reference to theoretical models of early protection and vulnerability processes.

Social comparison as a mediator of response shift.

Previous research in the domain of social comparison theory has suggested that the same factors that have been hypothesized as antecedents to response shift, primarily significant life events, also prompt an increase in interest in social comparison. Based on this research, it is suggested that social comparison, or more specifically, change in social comparison, is a mediator of the relation between significant life events and the change in self-perspective--or response shift--that they often produce. Evidence supporting this claim is reviewed and new data are presented. Finally, the implications of this mediational relation, including those relevant to the design of interventions, are discussed.

The effect of peers' alcohol consumption on parental influence: a cognitive mediational model.

OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to elucidate familial and social influences on adolescent alcohol consumption by testing three hypotheses derived from the prototype/willingness model of adolescent risk behavior: (1) parents' prototypes of adolescent drinkers affect adolescent consumption through their impact on adolescents' prototypes, (2) strong parent-child relationships are associated with acceptance of parental influence regarding drinking and thus with less adolescent drinking and (3) association with peers who drink dilutes parental influence over adolescents' alcohol consumption. METHOD: Two hundred sixty-six rural adolescents, ages 15 through 17 at Time 1, and their parents and siblings completed questionnaires about drinking behavior and drinking-related cognitions at 1-year intervals for 3 years. RESULTS: Structural equation models provided evidence of transmission of prototypes of adolescent drinkers from parents to adolescents and evidence that these prototypes mediate adolescent alcohol consumption. They also provide evidence that although parents' prototypes and parent-adolescent relationships are important in shaping the adolescents' drinking, association with peers who drink significantly attenuates this influence. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that parents can influence their children's drinking, but that this influence has more of an impact if the adolescent is not involved in a drinking-conducive peer environment. The current analyses also suggest that the process of becoming an adolescent drinker involves an active rejection of parents' influence rather than a passive movement away from parents' attitudes and beliefs-a process that is accelerated by association with peers who drink.

Individual differences in social comparison: development of a scale of social comparison orientation.

Development and validation of a measure of individual differences in social comparison orientation (the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure [INCOM]) are described. Assuming that the tendency toward social comparison is universal, the scale was constructed so as to be appropriate to and comparable in 2 cultures: American and Dutch. It was then administered to several thousand people in each country. Analyses of these data are presented indicating that the scale has good psychometric properties. In addition, a laboratory study and several field studies are described that demonstrated the INCOM's ability to predict comparison behavior effectively. Possible uses of the scale in basic and applied settings are discussed.

The effect of risk communication on risk perceptions: the significance of individual differences.

The purpose of this paper is to address the literature on the relation between risk communication and the initiation of health behavior change. More specifically, we examine the evidence that providing risk information is an effective way to change risk perceptions, as well as the more limited evidence that altering risk perceptions influences risk behavior. The paper discusses significant developments in the research on these issues, describes specific studies that represent trends in this research, and discusses methodologic issues important to the development of the field. Although there are relatively few studies that demonstrate causal links between risk communication and behavior change, recent developments in the field point to the importance of tailoring risk communications to the individual characteristics of targets. Such tailoring has taken a variety of forms, including providing individualized feedback concerning risk status or genetic vulnerability and assessing readiness for behavior change. Future intervention efforts should combine individualized risk status feedback with assessment of individual differences in previous behavior and acceptance of personal vulnerability.

Reasoned action and social reaction: willingness and intention as independent predictors of health risk.

Three studies are described that assess elements of a new model of adolescent health-risk behavior, the prototype/willingness (P/W) model (F. X. Gibbons & M. Gerrard, 1995, 1997). The 1st analysis examined whether a central element of the prototype model, behavioral willingness, adds significantly to behavioral expectation in predicting adolescents' smoking behavior. The 2nd set of analyses used structural-equation-modeling procedures to provide the 1st test of the complete model in predicting college students' pregnancy-risk behavior. Finally, the 3rd study used confirmatory factor analysis to assess the independence of elements of the model from similar elements in other health behavior models. Results of the 3 studies provided support for the prototype model and, in particular, for 2 of its primary contentions: (a) that much adolescent health-risk behavior is not planned and (b) that willingness and intention are related but independent constructs, each of which can be an antecedent to risk behavior.

Self-esteem and the relation between risk behavior and perceptions of vulnerability to unplanned pregnancy in college women.

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.

Cognitive reactions to smoking relapse: the reciprocal relation between dissonance and self-esteem.

Perceptions of health risk associated with smoking, commitment to quitting, and self-concept were assessed among smokers before, during, and after their participation in cessation clinics. Consistent with expectations derived from cognitive dissonance theory, results indicated that relapsers' perception of risk declined after they resumed smoking, although the decline was significant only for relapsers with high self-esteem; high self-esteem relapsers experienced a significantly greater decline in commitment to quitting than did low self-esteem relapsers; and decline in risk perception among relapsers was associated with maintenance of self-esteem. The implications of these results for dissonance theory and the study of smoking relapse and cessation are discussed.

Smoker networks and the "typical smoker": a prospective analysis of smoking cessation.

Perceptions of the typical smoker (i.e., prototype) were assessed in a sample of 174 adult smokers when they first joined a cessation clinic and were used to predict smoking status at 6-month follow-up. As predicted, consistent with a prototype-based model of health risk behavior (F. X. Gibbons & M. Gerrard, 1995, in press), smokers with more favorable perceptions were more likely to have relapsed at follow-up. Also as predicted, this prospective effect was moderated by smokers' social networks: Prototypes did not predict status among those who had a lot of friends and family members who smoked, suggesting that these other smokers were inhibiting smokers' attempts to distance themselves psychologically from the prototype. Implications of the results for interventions that use prototypes to discourage smoking are discussed.

A longitudinal study of the reciprocal nature of risk behaviors and cognitions in adolescents: what you do shapes what you think, and vice versa.

Adolescents' reckless driving, drinking, and smoking, along with their cognitions about these behaviors, were assessed in a 3-year longitudinal design. Consistent with most models of health behavior, the results indicated that health cognitions predict risk behavior. In addition, the current data demonstrate that increases in risk behavior are accompanied by increase in perceptions of vulnerability and prevalence and by decreases in the influence of concerns about health and safety. Furthermore, the changes in prevalence estimates and concern about health and safety predicted subsequent risk behavior. These results demonstrate reciprocity between risk behaviors and related cognitions and suggest that adolescents are aware of the risks associated with their behavior but modify their thinking about these risks in ways that facilitate continued participation in the behaviors.

Relation between perceived vulnerability to HIV and precautionary sexual behavior.

Although virtually all major theories of health-protective behavior assume that precautionary behavior is related to perceived vulnerability, the applicability of this assumption to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preventive behavior has recently been called into question. This article uses qualitative and quantitative methods to review and integrate the literature relevant to the relation between perceived vulnerability to HIV and precautionary sexual behavior. Specifically, the purpose of the article is to determine whether the extent research supports 2 hypotheses regarding this relation; (a) Perceptions of personal vulnerability to HIV are reflections of current and recent risk and precautionary behavior, and (b) these perceptions motivate precautionary sexual behavior. In addition, it examines the conceptual and methodological strengths and weaknesses of the empirical literature on these questions and provides recommendations for future research.

PIP: A review of the research literature on the relationship between sexual behavior and perceptions of vulnerability to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) provided limited support for the hypothesis that risk and preventive measures influence estimates of vulnerability, but no support for the theory that perceptions of vulnerability to HIV motivate subsequent precautionary sexual behavior. The 32 primarily cross-sectional studies published on this topic from 1986-94 encompassed 15,440 participants. Condom use was significantly less likely to be related to risk estimates than measures that combined two or more risk and preventive behaviors. Groups at low risk of HIV (e.g., older people, women, and college students) were more likely than their high-risk counterparts to base their risk estimates on their behavior. Age, gender, experience with risk behaviors, and risk status all seemed to affect whether risk perceptions were a reflection of current behavior and the motivational power of these perceptions. Four factors specific to the HIV epidemic are assumed to explain the lesser applicability of health protective behavior models to this condition compared to non-fatal threats: emotions associated with decisions about sex, the social nature of precautionary sexual behavior, the lengthy incubation period for HIV, and the uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding the process of infection. Recommended, to expand theoretical and practical knowledge of this issue, are longitudinal studies, measures of the affective as well as cognitive dimensions of vulnerability perceptions, and experimental studies.

Predicting young adults' health risk behavior.

A prototype model of risk behavior is described and was tested in a longitudinal study of 679 college students, beginning at the start of their freshman year. Perceptions of the prototype associated with 4 health risk behaviors (smoking, drinking, reckless driving, and ineffective contraception) were assessed along with self-reports of the same behaviors. Results indicated that prototype perception was related to risk behavior in both a reactive and a prospective manner. That is, perceptions changed as a function of change in behavior, and perceptions predicted those behavior changes as well. This prospective relation was moderated by social comparison, as the link between perception and behavior change was stronger among persons who reported frequently engaging in social comparison.

Prevalence estimates and adolescent risk behavior: cross-cultural differences in social influence.

Prevalence estimates and prototype perceptions related to health risk behaviors were assessed in comparable samples of Danish and American adolescents (ages 13-15 years). Partly on the basis of observation and previous research, the assumption was made that the American sample would report more self-enhancement tendencies than would the Danish sample. Consistent with this assumption, which was supported by the data, 2 hypotheses were tested: (a) The Americans would overestimate the prevalence of the various risk behaviors (among their peers) more so than would the Danes and (b) those estimates would be more closely linked to their own risk behaviors for the American sample. Results supported both hypotheses; motivational explanations were proposed for both effects. In addition, perceptions of the prototypes associated with particular risk behaviors were assessed and were found to predict smoking behavior and willingness to engage in unprotected sexual intercourse for both samples. Implications for the study of adolescent risk behavior are discussed.

From top dog to bottom half: social comparison strategies in response to poor performance.

Although the hypothesis that people will alter comparison behavior in response to threat is consistent with the formulation of social comparison theory, the empirical evidence for the natural occurrence of such shifts is weak. Two studies were conducted to examine this hypothesis. In the first study, adolescents' perceptions were assessed before, during, and 6 months after their participation in an academic program for gifted students. Male students who performed poorly, and also worse than they had expected in the program, demonstrated self-protective "strategies" by lowering the amount and level of academic comparison they reported engaging in and by lowering their perception of the importance of academics. Female students, who generally performed as well as expected, reported relatively little change. By follow-up, most of the male students' perceptions had returned to baseline. A second study found that both male and female college students who thought they had performed poorly academically also demonstrated these shifts in comparison. Motivations behind the strategies are discussed.

Perceptions of smoking risk as a function of smoking status.

Perceptions of the health risks associated with smoking in comparison with not smoking were assessed for the self and the "typical smoker" among four groups of adults: current, former and nonsmokers in the community, and smokers who had joined cessation clinics to help them quit. Comparisons across groups indicated that risk perceptions differed as a function of smoking status. Clinic attendees reported the highest smoking risk and the greatest perceived benefit of not smoking, and community smokers reported the lowest of each. In addition, community smokers were the only group to exhibit an "optimistic bias" (i.e., a perception that they were less vulnerable to health risk than was the typical smoker). Results from this cross-sectional study suggest that the decision to engage in and to stop risky behaviors is related to the perceptions of the health risk associated with those behaviors.

Relapse and risk perception among members of a smoking cessation clinic.

Assessed perceptions of the health risks associated with smoking in comparison with not smoking among members of smoking cessation clinics. We measured these perceptions at three different time periods during the clinic, and then again at a 6-month follow-up. Results indicated that members who were abstinent at the follow-up had lowered their perceptions of the likelihood of contracting smoking-related illnesses (e.g., emphysema) if they were not smoking. In contrast, those who had relapsed lowered their perceptions of the health risks associated with smoking, but not their perceptions of nonsmoking disease vulnerability. The implications of these changes in risk perception for therapy involvement are discussed.

Effects of reviewing risk-relevant behavior on perceived vulnerability among women marines.

People generally underestimate their own vulnerability to negative events such as illness or accidents. It has been suggested that this illusion of "unique invulnerability" is due to selective focus on one's own risk-reducing behaviors, to the exclusion of others' risk-reducing behaviors and one's own risk-increasing behaviors. The current study examined the effects of reviewing sexual and contraceptive behavior on perceived vulnerability to unplanned pregnancy. Our results indicated that review of pregnancy-related behaviors decreased perceived vulnerability among two groups of subjects: those who considered unplanned pregnancy to be most undesirable and those who had the most confidence in the efficacy of their contraceptive behavior. The data also support the hypothesis that selective focus is a source of the illusion of invulnerability.

Attitudes toward sex, arousal, and the retention of contraceptive information.

Previous research has suggested that women with a negative emotional orientation toward sexuality (i.e., erotophobia) have difficulty learning and retaining sexually relevant material such as contraceptive information. It has been hypothesized that these women become aroused by this material and that this arousal interferes with their ability to learn it. The importance of this issue led us to conduct the current study. Erotophobic and erotophilic women viewed presentations about contraception while their physiological responses were being monitored. In addition, they were tested on the information contained in the presentation before, immediately after, and again 4-6 weeks after the presentation. The results indicated that the erotophobic women knew less contraceptive information before the presentation and were more aroused by the presentation. This arousal, however, did not interfere with retention of the material. These results are discussed in terms of individual differences in reactions to sexual material and the ability to learn, retain, and use contraceptive information.

PIP: The effect of positive or negative sexual orientation and degree of arousal during learning on retention of contraceptive content was assessed using pre-testing and control subjects. 72 female subjects were classified on the basis of a Sexual Experience Survey and the Sexual Opinion Survey as erotophilic or erotophobics. To control for the effect prior knowledge, pretests on contraceptive knowledge and the anatomy of the skeletal system were administered. Physiological arousal was measured by skin resistance. Subjects viewed 5-minute slide and tape presentations on conception and contraception and on the skeletal system. Initially, erotophilic women, and those classified as effective contraceptors, performed better on tests of contraceptive knowledge, but not on knowledge of the skeletal system. After adjusting for pretest scores, there was no difference in posttest scores on these topics. Initial follow-up scores 4-6 weeks later showed no differences, although adjusted scores were higher for erotophobic women. There were no physiological differences during the pretest, but as predicted, the erotophobic women were significantly more aroused during the birth control presentation. The adjusted birth control follow-up test scores were positively correlated with arousal. Thus, the hypothesis that erotophobic women have difficulty learning sexually explicit material on contraception was not supported.