A MODEL OF CONSUMERS PREVENTIVE HEALTH BEHAVIORS - THE ROLE OF HEALTHMOTIVATION AND HEALTH ABILITY

This article develops and tests a model of the individual and joint ef fects of various consumer characteristics on health information acquis ition behaviors (e.g., using media sources) and health maintenance beh aviors (e.g., restricting diet). Theory development overviews the inte rdisciplinary literature on health and proposes that health motivation independently influences consumers' preventive health behaviors while the effect of health ability on health behaviors is moderated by the level of health motivation. This theory is tested in a survey of 404 c onsumers. Results indicate that the interaction of health ability and health motivation affects consumers' health behaviors. However, mixed results suggest that high levels of ability and motivation are not alw ays critical precursors of health behaviors; instead, the impact of th ese characteristics depends on the particular health behavior and the specific health ability characteristic. Implications for theory and pr actice are discussed.