Connie M. Kristiansen

Smoking, health behavior, and value priorities☆

In a postal survey, 113 respondents completed the Rokeach terminal value survey with the additional value, health, and questions regarding their preventive health behavior. Analyses showed that lighter nonsmokers displayed better preventive behavior than heavier smokers. Lighter nonsmokers also reported valuing health more than heavier smokers reported, and were oriented toward safety and inner-directedness compared with heavier smokers who were oriented toward satisfaction and outer-directedness. The preventive behavior of lighter nonsmokers increased with the value of social goals while the preventive behavior of heavier smokers was related to personal goals. These results are considered in the context of previous research which suggested that smokers and nonsmokers may have different value priorities. The implications of these findings for health education are discussed.

Seat belt legislation and seat belt use: Effects on differences related to sex, social class and smoking

As part of a larger study of preventive health behavior, 177 adults answered a question about how often they wore seat belts both before and after seat belt legislation was introduced in Britain. Analyses by smoking status, sex and socioeconomic status (SES) showed that all groups increased the frequency of self-reported seat belt use after the law was introduced. Regression analyses showed that before the law, SES, sex and general preventive behavior were significant predictors of seat belt use, while only SES was a significant predictor of post-legislation seat belt use. Overall the results suggested that seat belt legislation was effective in promoting seat belt use since most of the demographic differences were eliminated by the legislation.

The Perceived Relationship Between Smoking, Obesity and Cause of Death

AbstractThree hundred members of the general public participated in a study of peoples intuitive conceptions of the effects of smoking and obesity. Smoking was generally associated with increased risk of lung cancer, heart disease and pneumonia. Non-smokers placed more emphasis upon lung cancer relative to heart disease than smokers did, and saw smokers as being more at risk from lung cancer than the smokers saw themselves. Obesity was only associated with increased risk of heart disease. It is recommended that health educators stress the wide variety of risks to which smokers expose themselves and inform the public about the other circulatory diseases associated with obesity.Social psychological studies of health behaviours have typically been concerned with peoples attitudes, attributions of causality and decisions about health issues. In contrast, this paper explores peoples schemata surrounding smoking, obesity and various causes of death. A schema refers to a cognitive knowledge structure comprise...