title: Common factors predicting long-term changes in multiple health behaviors.
abstract: This study was designed to assess if there are consistent treatment, stage, severity, effort and demographic effects which predict long-term changes across the multiple behaviors of smoking, diet and sun exposure. A secondary data analysis integrated data from four studies on smoking cessation (N = 3927), three studies on diet (N = 4824) and four studies on sun exposure (N = 6465). Across all three behaviors, behavior change at 24 months was related to treatment, stage of change, problem severity and effort effects measured at baseline. There were no consistent demographic effects. Across multiple behaviors, long-term behavior changes are consistently related to four effects that are dynamic and open to change. Behavior changes were not consistently related to static demographic variables. Future intervention research can target the four effects to determine if breakthroughs can be produced in changing single and multiple behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. blissmer@uri.edu
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blissmer
authors.forename: James O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Prochaska
authors.forename: Wayne F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Velicer
authors.forename: Colleen A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Redding
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Geoffrey W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robbins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003657:Decision Making; D005103:Expert Systems; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D013473:Sunscreening Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D013473:Sunscreening Agents