Predicting safe sex: Assessment of autoregressive and cross-lagged effects within the Theory of Planned Behavior

Sander M Eggers; Myra Taylor; Reshma Sathiparsad; Arjan Er Bos; Hein de Vries

doi:10.1177/1359105313512354

Predicting safe sex: Assessment of autoregressive and cross-lagged effects within the Theory of Planned Behavior

J Health Psychol. 2015 Nov;20(11):1397-404. doi: 10.1177/1359105313512354. Epub 2013 Dec 1.

Authors

Sander M Eggers¹, Myra Taylor², Reshma Sathiparsad², Arjan Er Bos³, Hein de Vries⁴

Affiliations

¹ Maastricht University, The Netherlands m.eggers@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
² University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
³ Open University, The Netherlands.
⁴ Maastricht University, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Despite its popularity, few studies have assessed the temporal stability and cross-lagged effects of the Theory of Planned Behavior factors: Attitude, subjective norms and self-efficacy. For this study, 298 adolescent learners from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, filled out a Theory of Planned Behavior questionnaire on teenage pregnancy at baseline and after 6 months. Structural equation modeling showed that there were considerable cross-lagged effects between attitude and subjective norms. Temporal stability was moderate with test-retest correlations ranging from 0.37 to 0.51 and the model was able to predict intentions to have safe sex (R2 = 0.69) Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Keywords: KwaZulu-Natal; Theory of Planned Behavior; cross-lagged effects; teenage pregnancy; temporal stability.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior / ethnology*
Child
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Pregnancy
Pregnancy in Adolescence / ethnology*
South Africa / ethnology