LONGITUDINAL COMPARISONS OF SELF-AFFIRMATION INTERVENTIONS FOR SUN PROTECTION MESSAGES

Bethany R Shorey-Fennell

Self-affirmation interventions have received empirical support in a number of domains, including health behavior. Across all self-affirmation intervention types there are consistent small to medium effects on message acceptance, health intentions, and behavior change. There are a number of self-affirmation intervention categories (e.g. values affirmations, brief affirmations), and with few exceptions, these intervention types have not been empirically compared. Thus, intervention choice is often implemented ad hoc, with little rationale for the type of affirmation chosen. Further, despite widespread use of self-affirmation, there is no consensus on the mechanisms of self-affirmation. In order to rigorously test the effects of self-affirmation, it is critical to understand interventions utilized to induce self-affirmation. The current investigation compares four self-affirmation interventions with distinct methodologies including 1) a values affirmation, 2) a social specific affirmation, 3) perspective taking affirmation, and 4) brief implementation intention. Additionally, proximal outcomes of state reactance, narrow self-assessment, and self-worth evaluated whether similar mechanisms of action are present. The current investigation focused on sun-protective behaviors following a message conveying risks of exposure. The investigation was longitudinal (one-week) in order to capture distal effects of self-affirmation on health intentions and behavior. There were no differences between the four self-affirmation conditions on sun exposure or protective behavior, intentions, or engagement with resources. Nor were there differences between essay (values and social) and briefer interventions (perspective circle and implementation intentions) on most outcomes of interest, suggesting that brief interventions are as effective as more traditional methods of self-affirmation. Unexpectedly, there were also few differences between self-affirmation conditions and the control group on most outcomes of interest. The exception was that participants in the perspective circle condition engaged more with resources a week after the intervention. Further, it was not clear the proposed mechanisms were related to outcomes of interest. The current investigation was a first step in comparing novel self-affirmation interventions in an online context. Results suggest that the perspective circle should be utilized more in self-affirmation research to ascertain whether it performs well in different contexts, especially compared to other interventions, as it has in the current investigation.

LONGITUDINAL COMPARISONS OF SELF-AFFIRMATION INTERVENTIONS FOR SUN PROTECTION MESSAGES

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