title: Covert self-reinforcers, fear of consequences, and health behavior.
abstract: A sample of 125 U.S. college students reported how frequently they exercised vigorously; wore seat belts in automobiles; and avoided consumption of red meat and foods high in dietary cholesterol, saturated fat, and salt. They also reported their fears of long-term negative effects from the unhealthful alternatives and both the frequencies and intensities of 6 self-administered covert consequences: 3 positive for healthful behaviors and 3 negative for the unhealthful alternatives. Diet-related health behaviors were best predicated by a single scale composed of all 12 covert-consequence items. Factor analyses suggested the use of 2 scales for exercise and use of seat belts: 1 rating positive consequences and the other rating negative consequences. For both behaviors, only the positive-item scale predicted in multiple regression. Fear was correlated with all health behaviors except exercise, but it contributed independently only to red-meat avoidance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Louisville, KY 40292, USA. Birkimer@Louisville.edu
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Birkimer
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Bledsoe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005239:Fear; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012449:Safety; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology