Social factors associated with breast self-examination among high risk women.

A sample of 708 women, who by sociodemographic characteristics are high risk to breast cancer, were interviewed by telephone about their knowledge, attitude, and practice of breast self-examination (BSE). Reported frequency of BSE, knowledge of BSE and breast cancer, and BSE attitude in this sample are comparable to data reported by others. This report analyzes the associations between the frequency of a breast self-examination practice and the variables, age, education, detection confidence, social influence, modesty, preventive health behaviors, and memory. These relationships are discussed and several new hypotheses are proposed. Since the data were collected retrospectively, they are not able to describe causal relationships.