Performance of alcohol and safer sex change rulers compared with readiness to change questionnaires.
As part of a larger intervention study, the authors hypothesized that change rulers created for alcohol and safer sex would be equivalent to longer questionnaires. Ninety-six male college students completed rulers and questionnaires for assessing behavior change readiness. Participants' scores on the rulers significantly correlated with their scores on the questionnaires (r=.77 for alcohol; r=.77 for safer sex). In both domains, the rulers outperformed the questionnaires in predicting behavioral intentions, suggesting that the rulers had at least comparable concurrent criterion validity. This finding is the first of its kind in the safe sex literature and suggests that quick assessments of readiness to change are possible. Because the rulers are a continuous measure, the results are consistent with the idea that the change process is continuous rather than a series of discrete stages.
LaBrie
Joseph W
JW
Department of Psychology, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. jlabrie@lmu.edu
Quinlan
Thomas
T
Schiffman
Jason E
JE
Earleywine
Mitchell E
ME
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D017280:Condoms; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012309:Risk-Taking; D021841:Safe Sex / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires