title: The conceptualization and measurement of cognitive health sophistication.
abstract: This article develops a conceptualization and measure of cognitive health sophistication--the complexity of an individual's conceptual knowledge about health. Study 1 provides initial validity evidence for the measure--the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument--by showing its association with other cognitive health constructs indicative of higher health sophistication. Study 2 presents data from a sample of low-income adults to provide evidence that the measure does not depend heavily on health-related vocabulary or ethnicity. Results from both studies suggest that the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument can be used to capture variability in the sophistication or complexity of an individual's health-related schematic structures on the basis of responses to two simple open-ended questions. Methodological advantages of the Healthy-Unhealthy Other Instrument and suggestions for future research are highlighted in the discussion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. gbodie@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Graham D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Bodie
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Jakob D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Lashara A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Guntzviller
authors.forename: Andy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult