The measurement of threat orientations.
OBJECTIVE
To develop measures of 3 threat orientations that affect responses to health behavior messages.


METHODS
In Study 1, college students (N = 47) completed items assessing threat orientations and health behaviors. In Study 2, college students and community adults (N = 110) completed the threat orientation items and measures of convergent and discriminant validity.


RESULTS
In Study 1, the control-based, denial-based, and heightened-sensitivity-based threat orientation scales demonstrated good internal consistency and correlated with engagement in health behaviors. In Study 2, the convergent and discriminant validity of the 3 measures was established.


CONCLUSIONS
The 3 scales have good internal reliability and construct validity.
Department of Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. sthompson@pomona.edu
Suzanne C
SC
Thompson
Michèle M
MM
Schlehofer
Michelle J
MJ
Bovin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003657:Decision Making; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012928:Social Desirability; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires