Prescriptive Beliefs Research Articles

Partner Influence on Health Behavior Decision-Making: Increasing Breastfeeding Duration

This longitudinal study examined how male partners affect the breastfeeding decisions and behavior of first-time mothers. Based on the reasons model by Meichenbaum and Fong (1993), the breastfeeding reasons, intentions, and behavior of 317 first-time mothers were assessed prenatally and at six time points in the first year postpartum. In a prenatal assessment, men indicated their prescriptive beliefs about whether their partner should breastfeed at the same six time points. Men’s prescriptive breastfeeding beliefs predicted the strength of their partners’ breastfeeding intentions, over and above the women’s own breastfeeding reasons, and they predicted breastfeeding behavior over and above the women’s intentions. These results demonstrate the influence wielded by intimate partners and highlight the importance of focusing on partners’ beliefs when predicting and intervening in health behavior decisions.

How can repeat drunk drivers be influenced to change? Analysis of the association between drunk driving and DUI recidivists' attitudes and beliefs.

Public policy interventions designed to deter or prevent drunk driving depend, in part, on modifying beliefs concerning the riskiness, social acceptability and immorality of driving under the influence of alcohol. The current study examines the association of these beliefs with the incidence of alcohol-impaired driving. Interviews were conducted with 273 people with multiple driving under the influence (DUI) offenses. Data included self-reported frequency of driving after drinking in the past year, as well as measures of moral and prescriptive beliefs concerning alcohol-impaired driving (internal behavioral controls), perceived risks of criminal punishment and accidents associated with alcohol-impaired driving (external behavioral controls) and perceived peer group attitudes toward alcohol-impaired driving (social controls). Logit regression modeling showed significant, unique protective associations with behavioral control items in each category. Behavioral controls may protect against alcohol-impaired driving behavior even in a high-risk sample of repeat DUI offenders. Policy interventions designed to curtail drunk driving might seek to enhance these sorts of behavioral controls among DUI offenders.

Ability versus vulnerability: Beliefs about men's and women's emotional behaviour

In the present research we investigated gender-specific beliefs about emotional behaviour. In Study 1, 180 respondents rated the extent to which they agreed with different types of beliefs (prescriptive, descriptive, stereotypical, and contra-stereotypical) regarding the emotional behaviour of men and women. As anticipated, respondents agreed more with descriptive than with prescriptive beliefs, and more with stereotypical than with contra-stereotypical beliefs. However, respondents agreed more with stereotypical beliefs about the emotional behaviour of women than with those about men. These results were replicated in Study 2 with a sample of 75 students and 80 nonstudents. In Study 3, a sample of 279 respondents rated the extent of agreement with the same items, this time with respect to then own emotional behaviour. A similar pattern of results was obtained, although agreement rates were higher than in Study 1 and 2.

Descriptive and Prescriptive Beliefs About Justice: A Sino-U.S. Comparison

The present article focuses on the distinction between descriptive (i.e., what will happen) and prescriptive (i.e., what should happen) beliefs in justice and shows that person valence and belief type had an interactive effect on outcome valence. Specifically, the 2 (Chinese and American culture) x 2 (Good and Bad person) x 2 (Will as descriptive and Should as prescriptive belief) study revealed that both Chinese and Americans believe that good people should receive better outcomes than they will; but Chinese believe that bad people should receive worse outcomes than they will, whereas Americans believe that bad people should receive better outcomes than they will. This may suggest that, in comparison with Chinese, Americans are more tolerant of or lenient toward immoral behavior and are prescriptively less committed to moral justice.

Factor structure of the Sex-Role Ideology Scale: Introducing a short form

We examined the factor structure of the Sex-Role Ideology Scale (SRIS), which is a standard 30-item measure of gender ideology (i.e., prescriptive beliefs about the behaviors and roles of women and men). Two student samples (combined N=682; 77.7% female; age: range 17–54 years, M=20.4, SD=3.5) enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses at a Canadian university completed the SRIS and a measure of social desirability. Principal components analysis was used with parallel analysis to decide how many factors to retain. Two- and three-factor solutions for the SRIS did not replicate strongly across samples. Some evidence, however, supported a unidimensional solution, which is consistent with the scoring system provided by the developers of the SRIS. Because of continuing ambiguity about the factor structure of the SRIS, we developed a unidimensional short form, which contains 18 items. Results from a cross-validation study of the structure of the short form are presented. This report represents the first step in addressing the construct validity of the short form of the SRIS.

Construct validity of a diagnostic ratio measure of gender stereotypes

We examined the construct validity of C. L. Martin's [(1987), “A Ratio Measure of Sex Stereotyping,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 52, pp. 489–499] diagnostic ratio method for measuring consensual gender stereotypes and individual differences in gender stereotyping. This method is based on estimates that respondents make for percentages of men and women that possess gender stereotypic personality traits. Fifty-six women in introductory psychology completed a version of the diagnostic ratio measure of gender stereotypes, which consisted of eight stereotypically feminine traits and eight stereotypically masculine traits, and a measure of prescriptive beliefs about social roles of women and men. Results for consensual gender stereotypes replicated those of Martin. The psychometric properties of the measure for assessing individual differences in gender stereotyping were generally adequate for research purposes. A small but interpretable correlation was found between individual differences in gender stereotyping and individual differences in prescriptive beliefs about social roles for the sexes. The preceding findings increase confidence in Martin's procedure as a valuable measure of gender stereotypes and gender stereotyping.

Can gender stereotypes and sex‐role conceptions be distinguished?

A study was conducted to investigate whether personality characteristics, previously found to define gender stereotypes (i.e. consensual beliefs about the differing characteristics of the sexes) are also part of sex‐role conceptions (i.e. prescriptive beliefs regarding appropriate behaviour and personality characteristics for men and women). Male and female university students completed either a measure of gender stereotypes or one of three measures of sex‐role conceptions. Results showed that personality characteristics were differentially attributed to men and women on stereotype and role measures. The characterization of men and women was very similar on the two types of measures, suggesting that sex‐role conceptions and gender stereotypes overlap. The social desirability of personality characteristics was carefully controlled in order to determine whether the prescription of personality extends to undesirable traits. Results showed that although undesirable characteristics were differentially attributed to men and women, the level of prescription was relatively low, implying that such characteristics are not strongly required for adequate sex‐role performance.

Development and Construct Validation of a Measure of Attitudes Toward Public Exposure to Sexual Stimuli

Developed a brief, reliable, and valid measure of attitudes toward public exposure to sexual stimuli. Both advocates and opponents of public exposure to such stimuli typically cite presumed effects upon children. Consequently many of the Likert format items in the several versions of the scale deal with prescriptive and prescriptive beliefs about the exposure of children to sex related stimuli. Over a three-year period five different groups of respondents participated in the study. Both the longer and the shorter versions of the scale administered to these groups appear to have acceptable reliabilities. In an attempt to provide construct validation information, the relationships between the Acceptance of Public Sexuality Scale and several measures of traditionalism were examined. As expected, scores on the scale were inversely related to measures of traditionalism and positively related to measures of modernity Possible uses of the scale were discussed.