title: Predictors of intention to promote family planning: a survey of Protestant seminarians in the United States.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine Protestant seminary students' intention to promote family planning. Intention to promote family planning and its predictors were examined by testing a conceptual model based on the theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory. A nonrepresentative sample of 635 seminarians (90.5% Anglo; 66.5% male) from 10 theological schools in the United States completed a mailed survey. Students were classified according to their religious beliefs as conservative (61.9%) and nonconservative (38.1%), and group differences in intention (and its correlates) were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to assess relationships among attitudes toward sexuality, attitudes toward family planning, subjective norms, knowledge, self-efficacy, and intention for both conservative and nonconservative students. Results indicated that the relationships among predictors of intention were essentially similar for both conservative and nonconservative seminarians, with attitudes and self-efficacy for promoting family planning exhibiting the strongest direct effects on intention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health & Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843-4243, USA. pgoodson@hlkn.tamu.edu
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goodson
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033303:Protestantism; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States