RELATIONSHIPS AMONG OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE RISK FOR BREAST-CANCER AND MAMMOGRAPHY STAGES OF CHANGE

This study examined the relationships among objective and subjective r isk for breast cancer and mammography stages of change as defined by t he Transtheoretical Model, Women who had higher objective risk of brea st cancer, as defined by the Call et al, algorithm (M. H. Gall et al,, J, Natl, Cancer Inst., 81: 1879-1886, 1989), were more likely to perc eive themselves at greater subjective risk for breast cancer, Among th e components of objective risk, family history of breast cancer was th e only significant predictor of subjective risk, Both objective and su bjective risk individually predicted stages of change, such that highe r objective and subjective risk were associated with an increased prob ability of being in a later stage of adopting mammography, However, wh en objective and subjective risk were included in a multivariate model , only subjective risk predicted stages of change, In additional multi variate analyses, subjective risk continued to predict mammography sta ges of change when ''con'' and ''decisional balance'' scores were incl uded in separate models, These results suggest that future research ma y benefit from the explicit integration of personal risk perceptions w ith elements of the Transtheoretical Model to provide more powerful ac counts of behavioral change processes.