Behavioral Research

Table of Contents
1 Description & Theoretical Background
2 Use in Health Behavior Theories
3 Measures and Measurement
4 Similar Constructs
5

References

6 Measures Appendix
7 Published Examples

Download Full Text (PDF)

Other Constructs
 

Barriers

 

Dispositional Optimism

 

Environments

 

Illness Representations

  Implementation Intentions
  Intention, Expectation, and Willingness
  Normative Beliefs
  Optimistic Bias
  Perceived Benefits
  Perceived Control
  Perceived Severity
  Perceived Vulnerability
  Self-Efficacy
  Self-Reported Behavior
  Social Influence
  Social Support
  Stages
  Worry

Worry
Kevin D. McCaul and Paul W. Goetz

<< Previous

5

References

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.

Borkovec, T.D., Robinson, E., Pruzinsky, T., & Dupree, J.A. (1983). Preliminary exploration of worry: Some characteristics and processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 481-482.

Brosschot, J.F., & Thayer, J.F. (2004). Worry, perseverative thinking, and health. In L. R. Temoshok (Ed.), Biobehavioral Perspectives on Health and Disease, 6, Harwood Academic Publishers.

Brown, T. (2001). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire: Multiple factors or method effects? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 1411-1426.

Cameron, L.D. (2003). Anxiety, cognition, and responses to health threats. The common-sense model of self-regulation of health and illness. In L.D. Cameron & H. Leventhal (Eds.), The self-regulation of health and illness behaviour (pp.42-65). London: Routledge.

Cameron, L.D. (1997). Screening for cancer: Illness perceptions and illness worry. In K.J. Petrie and J.A. Weinman (Eds.), Perceptions of health and illness: current research and applications. (pp. 291-322). Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers.

Champion, V.L., & Skinner, C.S. (2004). A breast cancer fear scale: Psychometric development. Journal of Health Psychology, 9, 753-762.

Chapman, G.B., & Coups, E.J. (in press). Emotions and preventive health behavior: worry, regret, and influenza vaccination. Health Psychology.

Cohen, L., Fouladi, R.T., Babaian, R.J., Bhadkamkar, V.A., Parker, P.A., Carmack Taylor, C., Smith, M.A., Gritz, E.R., & Basen-Engquist, K. (2003). Cancer worry is associated with abnormal prostate-specific antigen levels in men participating in a community screening program. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 12, 610-617.

Davey, G.C.L. (1993a). A comparison of three worry questionnaires. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 51-56.

Davey, G.C.L. (1993b). A comparison of three cognitive appraisal strategies: The role of threat in devaluation of problem-focused coping. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 535-546.

De Rooij, M.J., Rampen, F.H., Schouten, L.J., & Neumann, H.A. (1997). Factors influencing participation among melanoma screening attenders. Acta Dermogoloy Venereology, 77, 467-470.

Dijkstra, A., & Brosschot, J. (2003). Worry about health in smoking behaviour change. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 1081-1092.

DiClemente, C.C., Prochaska, J.O., Fairhurst, S.K., Velicer, W.F., Velasquez, M.M., & Rossi, J.S. (1991). The process of smoking cessation: An analysis of precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 295-304.

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: an introduction to theory and research. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975.

Fresco, D. M., Heimberg, R. G., Mennin, D. S., & Turk, C. L. (2002). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 313-323.

Floyd, D.L., Prentice-Dunn, S., & Rogers, R.W. (2000). A meta-analysis of research on protection motivation theory. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 407-429.

Hay, J.L., McCaul, K.D., & Magnan, R.E. (2006). Does worry about breast cancer predict screening behaviors? A meta-analysis of the prospective evidence. Preventive Medicine, 42, 401-408.

Hochbaum, G. M. (1958). Public participation in medical screening programs: a socio-psychological study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Horowitz, M.J., Wilner, N., & Alverez, W. (1979). Impact of event scale: A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209-218.

Kubzansky, L.D., Kawachi, I., Spiro, III, A., Weiss, S.T., Vokona, P.S., & Sparrow, D. (1997). Is worrying bad for your heart? A prospective study of worry and coronary heart disease in the normative aging study. Circulation, 1997, 95, 818-824.

Lerman, C., Schwartz, M.D., Lin, T.H., Hughes, C., Narod, S., & Lynch, H.T. (1997). The influence of psychological distress on use of genetic testing for cancer risk. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 414-420.

Lerman, C., Trock, B., Rimer, B.K., Jepson, C., Brody, D., & Boyce, A. (1991). Psychological side effects of breast cancer screening. Health Psychology, 10, 259-267.

Lerner, J.S., & Keltner, D. (2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion- specific influences on judgment and choice. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 473-493.

Leventhal, H., Brissette, I., & Leventhal, E. A. (2003). The common-sense model of self-regulation of health and illness. In L.D. Cameron & H. Leventhal (Eds.), The self-regulation of health and illness behaviour (pp.42-65). London: Routledge.

Mathews, A. (1990). Why Worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behavioural Research and Therapy, 28, 455-468.

McCaul, K.D., Branstetter, A.D., Schroeder, D.M., & Glasgow, R.E. (1996). What is the relationship between breast cancer risk and mammography screening?: A meta-analytic review. Health Psychology, 15, 423-429.

McCaul, K.D., & Mullens, A.B. (2003). Affect, Thought, and Self-Protective Health Behavior: The Case of Worry and Cancer Screening. In J. Suls and K. Wallston (Eds.), Social Psychological Foundations of Health and Illness, Blackwell: Malden, MA.

McCaul, K.D., Mullens, A.B. Romanek, K.M., Erickson, S.C., & Gatheridge, B.J. (in press). Thought, worry, and motivation to quit smoking cigarettes. Cognition and Emotion.

Mermelstein, R., Weeks, K., Turner, L., & Cobb, J. (1999). When tailored feedback backfires: A skin cancer prevention intervention for adolescents. Cancer Research Therapy and Control, 8, 69-79.

Meyer, T.J., Miller, M.L., Metzger, R.L., & Borkovec, T.D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 487-495.

Miller, S. M., Shoda, Y., & Hurley, K. (1996). Applying cognitive-social theory to health protective behavior: Breast self-examination in cancer screening. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 70-94.

Molina, S. and Borkovec, T. D. (1994). The Penn State Worry Questionnaire: psychometric properties and associated characteristics. In: G. C. L. Davey and F. Tallis (Eds.), Worrying. Perspectives on Theory, Assessment and Treatment. New York: Wiley.

Moser, R.P., McCaul, K.D., Peters, E., Nelson, W., & Marcus, S. (2005). Risk and worry as predictors of cancer health-protective actions: Data from the Health Interview National Trends Survey (HINTS). Unpublished manuscript, National Cancer Institute.

Rogers, R.W., & Prentice-Dunn, S. (1997). Protection motivation theory. In David S. Gochman (Ed.), Handbook of Health Behavior Research. Vol.1. New York: Plenum Press, pgs 113-132.

Ruscio, A.M., & Borkovec, T.D. (2004). Experience and appraisal of worry among high worriers with and without generalized anxiety disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1469-1482.

Russell, J.A., & Barrett, L.F. (1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 805-819.

Sanderson, W.C., & Barlow, D.H. (1990). A description of patients diagnosed with DSM-III-R generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 178, 588-591.

Schwartz, M., Lerman, C., Daly, M., Audrain, J., Masny, A., & Griffith, K. (1995). Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 4, 269-273.

Slovic, P. (1987). The perception of risk. Science, 236, 280-285.

Stefanek, M.E., Enger, C., Benkendorf, J., Flamm-Honig, S., & Lerman, C. (1999). Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy decision making: A vignette study. Preventive Medicine, 29, 216-221.

Sundin, E. C. & Horowitz, M. J. (2002). Impact of Event Scale: Psychometric properties. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 205-209.

Szabo, M., & Lovibond, P.F. (2002). The cognitive content of naturally occurring worry episodes. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 167-177.

Tallis, F., Davey, G.C.L., & Bond, A. (1994). The worry domains questionnaire. In G.C.L. Davey and F. Tallis (Eds.), Worrying: Perspective on Theory, Assessment and Treatment. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Tallis, F., Davey, G.C.L., & Capuzzo, N. (1994). The phenomenology of non- pathological worry: a preliminary investigation. In G.C.L. Davey and F. Tallis (Eds.), Worrying: Perspectives on Theory, Assessment and Treatment. John Wiley & Sons.

Teigen, K. H. (1994). Yerkes-Dodson: A law for all seasons. Theory and Psychology, 4, 525-547.

Vickberg, S. M. J., Bovbjerg, D. H., DuHamel, K. N., Currie, V., & Redd, W. H. (2000). Intrusive thoughts and psychological distress among breast cancer survivors: Global meaning as a possible protective factor. Behavioral Medicine, 25, 152-161.

Weinstein, N. (2003). Conceptualizing and measuring risk perceptions. Paper presented to a Workshop on Conceptualizing (and Measuring) Perceived Risk. http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/brp/conceptual.html

Wells, A., & Papageorgiou, C. (1995). Worry and the incubation of intrusive images following stress. Behavior Research and Therapy, 33, 579-583.

Witte, K. (1998). Fear as motivator, fear as inhibitor: Using the extended parallel process model to explain fear appeal successes and failures. In P.A. Anderson and L.K. Guerrero (Eds.), Handbook of Communication and Emotion: Research, Theory Applications, and Contexts. 423-450. Academic Press.

York, D., Borkovec, T.D., Vasey, M., & Stern, R. (1987). Effects of worry and somatic anxiety induction on thoughts, emotion and physiological activity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25, 523-526.

<< Previous

Search | Help | Contact Us | Accessibility | Privacy Policy

DCCPSNational Cancer Institute Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health USA.gov

Health Behavior Constructs: Theory, Measurement, & Research  You can Quit smoking Now! smokefree.gov