Department of Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, USA.
Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre of Excellence in Learning Dynamics and Intervention Research (InterLearn), Finland.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Apr;347:116779. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116779. Epub 2024 Mar 17.
Dispositional, intra-personal constructs such as personality traits and generalized beliefs are consistently related to health behaviors, but relatively few studies have tested the theory-based mechanisms by which these constructs relate to health behaviors and compared them across behavior type. In the current study we tested an integrated theoretical model in which belief-based social cognition constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control) were proposed to mediate effects of personality traits (conscientiousness, extroversion) and socio-political beliefs (political beliefs, locus of control, free will beliefs) on participation in three health-related behaviors: physical activity, COVID-19 vaccination, and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction.
Proposed integrated model effects were tested in a five-week prospective correlational study. Finnish residents completed measures of personality, socio-political, and social cognition constructs with respect to physical activity participation (N = 557), COVID-19 vaccination uptake (N = 1,115), and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction (N = 558) and self-reported their behavior at follow-up.
Structural equation models revealed direct effects of intention on behavior, and of social-cognition constructs on intention, across all behaviors. We also found indirect effects of political beliefs on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for COVID-19 vaccination and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction behaviors, indirect effects of conscientiousness on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for physical activity and sugar-sweetened beverage restriction behaviors, and indirect effects of health locus of control on behavior mediated by social cognition constructs and intentions for physical activity behavior. Finally, we found a negative total effect of populist beliefs on behavior for COVID-19 vaccination behavior.
Findings contribute to an evidence base for the effects of dispositional and social cognition constructs of health behaviors, point to a possible mechanism by which these generalized constructs relate to health behavior, and outline how the pattern of effects varies across the different behaviors.
性格特质和普遍信念等性格特质与健康行为密切相关，但相对较少的研究测试了这些结构与健康行为的关系的理论基础机制，并比较了它们在不同行为类型中的关系。在目前的研究中，我们测试了一个综合理论模型，其中基于信念的社会认知结构（态度、主观规范、感知行为控制）被提出为性格特质（尽责性、外向性）和社会政治信念（政治信念、控制源、自由意志信念）对参与三种健康相关行为（身体活动、COVID-19 疫苗接种和限制含糖饮料）的影响提供中介作用。
在一项为期五周的前瞻性相关研究中，测试了提出的综合模型效应。芬兰居民完成了关于身体活动参与（N=557）、COVID-19 疫苗接种率（N=1115）和限制含糖饮料（N=558）的个性、社会政治和社会认知结构的测量，并在随访时报告了自己的行为。
结构方程模型显示，意图对所有行为的行为有直接影响，社会认知结构对意图有直接影响。我们还发现，COVID-19 疫苗接种和含糖饮料限制行为的意图和社会认知结构中介了政治信念对行为的间接影响，尽责性对行为的间接影响是通过社会认知结构和意图来实现的，而对于身体活动和含糖饮料限制行为的意图和社会认知结构，健康控制源对行为的间接影响是通过社会认知结构和意图来实现的。最后，我们发现，民粹主义信念对 COVID-19 疫苗接种行为的总效应为负。
研究结果为性格特质和社会认知结构对健康行为的影响提供了依据，指出了这些普遍结构与健康行为关系的可能机制，并概述了不同行为的影响模式。
