MODAL VERSUS INDIVIDUALLY-DERIVED BELIEFS ABOUT CONDOM USE - MEASURING THE COGNITIVE UNDERPINNINGS OF THE THEORY OF REASONED ACTION

Several measurement approaches for assessing the belief underpinnings of the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein a nd Ajzen, 1975), a cognitive model used extensively to understand the determinants of health behaviors, were compared empirically. Specifica lly, beliefs about condom use were examined in order to determine (a) whether one's own beliefs or a set of modal beliefs are stronger predi ctors of global measures of attitude toward behavior, subjective norm, and behavioral intention, and (b) whether measures of the perceived i mportance, accessibility, or cumulative serial sums of individually-de rived behavioral and normative beliefs yield superior predictions of t heir respective global constructs, as well as behavioral intention, th an do the standard modal belief measures. Results suggest that althoug h individually-derived beliefs are marginally stronger predictors than their modal counterparts, practical considerations may outweigh the m odest gain in predictive accuracy.