Donna C. Jessop

Gender differences in undergraduate attendance rates

Research on students’ attendance rates has focused mainly on the effects of personality variables and cognitive ability, rather than on the impact on degree outcomes. More specifically, there is scant information relating to the question of whether male and female undergraduate students have differential practices in relation to attendance, whether any such differences are significant or not in terms of eventual outcomes for undergraduates, and on why such differences might occur. The results of two studies conducted at the University of Sussex are presented and discussed in this article. The importance of attendance in determining final degree outcome is confirmed in these studies; indeed the rate at which a student attends emerges as the strongest predictor of degree outcome amongst a number of variables examined. The existence of differential attendance rates between male and female students is also confirmed. The results provide a context within which a range of possible underlying reasons for gender differences in this regard can be explored.

Adherence to asthma medication: The role of illness representations.

The current study explores whether cognitive and emotional representations of asthma are associated with adherence to inhaled preventative asthma medication, as predicted by the Self-Regulatory Model (SRM). Three hundred and thirty individuals with asthma completed a questionnaire that assessed their cognitive and emotional representations of asthma and their adherence to prescribed medication. Multiple regression analyses revealed that including components of the SRM significantly improved the prediction of current adherence and intention to adhere in the future. Age, duration of asthma, gender, and components of the SRM were able to predict 28.7% of the variance in current adherence and 16.6% of the variance in intention to adhere. Current adherence was predicted by age, gender, certainty about asthma status, beliefs about antecedent causes, and beliefs about cure-control. Age, beliefs about cure-control, and beliefs about the duration of ones asthma significantly predicted intention to adhere in the future. It is concluded that future research is needed to test the SRM systematically and to explore the added value of incorporating emotional representations alongside cognitive representations. Such research may benefit from utilising innovative means of assessing emotional representations and should include beliefs about treatment. In addition, the possibility that representations of illness may not influence health behaviours linearly or uniformly across individuals should be considered.

Motivational and behavioural consequences of self-affirmation interventions: a study of sunscreen use among women.

The reported study compared the efficacy of three self-affirmation manipulations in reducing defensive processing and instigating behaviour change in response to personally relevant information about the health risks of sunbathing. White female sunbathers (N = 162) were recruited on a beach in the south of England. Participants were randomly allocated to a ‘values affirmation’ condition, a ‘kindness affirmation’ condition, a ‘positive traits affirmation’ condition, or a no affirmation ‘control’ condition. In the ‘positive traits affirmation’ condition the self-affirmation task was incorporated into a leaflet presenting the health risk information. Findings supported the hypothesis that participants in the three self-affirmation conditions would engage in less-defensive processing of the health-risk information than those in the ‘control’ condition. For the behavioural measure, however, only those participants in the ‘positive traits affirmation’ condition were more likely to request a free sample of sunscreen than those in the control condition. The implications of these findings for self-affirmation theory and the development of effective health promotion campaigns are discussed.

Fear appeals and binge drinking: a terror management theory perspective.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the current research was to test the terror management theory-derived hypotheses that exposure to information about the mortality-related risks of binge drinking would make mortality salient (Study 1) and, hence, exacerbate willingness to binge drink amongst those who perceive this behaviour to benefit self-esteem (Study 2). STUDY 1: Participants (N=97) were allocated to one of five experimental conditions. Results confirmed that exposure to information about the mortality-related risks of binge drinking made mortality salient. STUDY 2: Participants (N=296) were allocated to one of three experimental conditions. Exposure to mortality-related information about the risks of binge drinking was found to result in greater willingness to binge drink among (i) binge drinkers and (ii) non-binge drinkers who perceived this behaviour to benefit self-esteem. There was no evidence, however, that exposure to such information influenced binge drinking over the following week. CONCLUSIONS Research findings suggest that mortality-related health promotion campaigns might inadvertently make mortality salient, and hence precipitate the very behaviours which they aim to deter among some recipients.

Impulsive and/or planned behaviour: Can impulsivity contribute to the predictive utility of the theory of planned behaviour?

This prospective study tested the prediction that impulsivity would contribute to the prediction of behaviour over and above key variables from an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model. At Time 1, participants completed a questionnaire including measures of TPB constructs related to the avoidance of high-calorie snacks, in addition to measures of impulsivity and dietary restraint. At Time 2, participants (N=315) completed a questionnaire assessing their snacking behaviour over the previous 2 weeks. Results revealed that impulsivity significantly contributed to the prediction of behaviour over and above TPB constructs, with those higher in impulsivity being more likely to snack. This relationship was not moderated by behavioural intention. It is concluded that impulsivity might profitably be included alongside TPB variables when predicting behaviours that are not adequately characterized by careful, analytic, compensatory decision-making strategies.

Understanding the Impact of Mortality-Related Health-Risk Information: A Terror Management Theory Perspective:

Four studies explored the effects of providing mortality-related health-risk information from a terror management theory perspective. Study 1 (N = 48) revealed that exposure to information about the mortality-related risks of driving made mortality salient for young male drivers. Studies 2 (N = 60) and 3 (N = 139) demonstrated that young male drivers who perceived driving (fast) to be beneficial for self-esteem reported higher intentions to take driving risks (Study 2) and drive fast (Study 3) after exposure to such information compared to controls. Study 3 further demonstrated that the inclusion of a prime to behave responsibly eliminated this effect. Study 4 (N = 92) revealed that exposure to this prime alongside the mortality-related information generated increased accessibility of responsibility-related constructs and reduced accessibility of mortality-related constructs among young male drivers. The implications of these findings for terror management theory are discussed.

Spontaneous implementation intentions and impulsivity: Can impulsivity moderate the effectiveness of planning strategies?

OBJECTIVE Self-initiated plans relating to when, where, and how behaviour will be performed have been shown to be effective in promoting goal progress. The current study (N=256) explored whether any impact of self-initiated implementation intentions on the avoidance of snacking was moderated by impulsivity. DESIGN AND METHODS The study employed a prospective design. At Time 1, participants reported the extent to which they had formed self-initiated implementation intentions to avoid eating high-calorie snacks. At Time 2, participants reported their snack consumption over the preceding 2 weeks and completed a measure of impulsivity. RESULTS Impulsivity (urgency) moderated the effect of self-initiated implementation intentions on snack consumption. Specifically, self-initiated implementation intentions benefited the avoidance of snacking most for those low in impulsivity and least for those high in impulsivity. CONCLUSION The findings suggest that impulsivity might form an important boundary condition to the effectiveness of self-initiated implementation intention formation in relation to snacking.

Reflective and non-reflective antecedents of health-related behaviour: Exploring the relative contributions of impulsivity and implicit self-control to the prediction of dietary behaviour

OBJECTIVES This study (N= 139) explored whether two measures that capture non-reflective processing (viz. a self-report measure of impulsivity and a behavioural measure of implicit self-control) would contribute to the prediction of dietary behaviour over and above cognitive predictors specified by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). METHODS Four dimensions of impulsivity were measured at Time 1. Implicit self-control was measured at Time 2, alongside TPB predictors relating to the avoidance of high-calorie snacks. At Time 3, participants reported their snacking behaviour over the previous 2 weeks. RESULTS Results revealed that both impulsivity and implicit self-control significantly contributed to the prediction of snacking behaviour over and above the TPB predictors. CONCLUSIONS It was concluded that the predictive utility of models such as the TPB might be augmented by the inclusion of variables that capture non-reflective information processing.

Pro-environmental actions, climate change, and defensiveness: Do self-affirmations make a difference to people's motives and beliefs about making a difference?

Social concerns with the imperative of environmentally sustainable life-styles sit rather awkwardly with ideas about the widespread denial of global environmental problems. Given the very obvious threat and denial dimensions to these issues, we conducted two studies assessing the impact of self-affirmation manipulations on peoples beliefs and motives regarding pro-environmental actions. In Study 1, participants (N=125) completed a self-affirmation task and read information on the threat of climate change. Results showed that the self-affirmation manipulation resulted in lower levels of denial and greater perceptions of personal involvement in relation to climate change. In Study 2, participants (N=90) completed a self-affirmation task and read some information on recycling. Findings showed a beneficial effect of a self-affirmation manipulation on intentions to increase recycling behaviour (among lower recyclers). The results are discussed in relation to the potential benefits of self-affirmation manipulations for promoting pro-environmental actions.

Too impulsive for implementation intentions? Evidence that impulsivity moderates the effectiveness of an implementation intention intervention

Objective: The reported research explored whether impulsivity moderated the effectiveness of an implementation intention prompt to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Design: The study employed a prospective experimental design. At Time 1, participants completed a measure of impulsivity. At Time 2, participants in the experimental condition formed implementation intentions to increase their fruit and vegetable intake by two extra portions daily over the following 7 days. Participants in the control condition performed an equivalent neutral task. At Time 3, participants reported their fruit and vegetable consumption over the preceding 7 days. Results: The impulsivity dimension urgency moderated the effectiveness of the implementation intention intervention. Implementation intention formation only prompted fruit and vegetable consumption amongst those with low levels of urgency. Implementation intention formation did not increase consumption amongst those high in urgency. Conclusion: The findings suggest that implementation intention interventions may fail to promote goal attainment for those high in impulsivity.