Proposed model of the relationship of risk information seeking and processing to the development of preventive behaviors

We articulate a model that focuses on characteristics of individuals that m ight predispose them to seek and process information about health in differ ent ways. Specifically, the model proposes that seven factors-(1) individua l characteristics, (2) perceived hazard characteristics, (3) affective resp onse to the risk, (4) felt social pressures to possess relevant information , (5) information sufficiency, (6) one's personal capacity to learn, (7) be liefs about the usefulness of information in various channels -will influen ce the extent to which a person will seek out this risk information in both routine and nonroutine channels and the extent to which he or she will spe nd time and effort analyzing the risk information critically. By adapting a nd synthesizing aspects of Eagly and Chaiken's Heuristic-Systematic Model a nd Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, we also expect that people who engag e in more effortful information seeking and processing are more likely to d evelop risk-related cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors that are more stab le (i.e., less changeable or volatile) over time. Since most forms of healt h information campaigns attempt to get people to adopt habitual or lifestyl e changes, factors leading to the stability or volatility of those behavior al changes are essential concerns. (C) 1999 Academic Press.