SPONTANEOUS RESPONSES TO THINKING ABOUT DISEASE DETECTION AND HEALTH PROMOTION BEHAVIORS

In the present study, we examined whether the Health Belief Model (HBM ) variables were appropriate for understanding thought about different types of health behaviors. It was predicted that thought about perfor ming a disease detection behavior would produce more responses referri ng to susceptibility and severity than thought about health promotion behaviors. Ninety-five participants indicated their spontaneous respon ses to thought about five disease detection behaviors or five health p romotion behaviors. Responses were content analyzed for references to HBM variables. As expected, participants who considered disease detect ion behaviors made significantly more references to perceived severity and personal susceptibility than participants who considered health p romotion behaviors.