Seeking Information About Sexual Health: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management

Although considerable research attention has been devoted to studying the spread of HIV, recent attention to general sexual health has refocused attention to the far greater prevalence of other sexually transmitted infections. One way we might help control the spread of these infections is by better understanding the information management process as it relates to sexual health. Toward that effort, this investigation offers an empirical test of the Theory of Motivated Information Management (W. A. Afifi & Weiner, 2004), applying it to college students’ search for target-related sexual health information. The results contribute to our understanding of information-seeking processes, offer mixed results regarding the theory’s utility in this context, and show an association between information seeking and safer-sex behavior.

[1]  D. Brashers.  Communication and Uncertainty Management. , 2001 .

[2]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[3]  Dana Lear.  Sex and Sexuality: Risk and Relationships in the Age of AIDS , 1997 .

[4]  L. V. Campenhoudt.  COMMENTARY The relational rationality of risk and uncertainty reducing processes explaining HIV risk-related sexual behaviour , 1999 .

[5]  Adina Nack.  Damaged goods: women managing the stigma of STDs , 2000 .

[6]  S. Aral.  Sexually transmitted diseases: magnitude, determinants and consequences , 2001, International journal of STD & AIDS.

[7]  Susan E. Morgan,et al.  Examining the Decision to Talk with Family About Organ Donation: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management , 2006 .

[8]  Eric Vittinghoff,et al.  Individuals' perceptions about their sex partners' risk behaviors , 1998 .

[9]  T. Wan.  Structural Equation Models with Latent Variables , 2002 .

[10]  J. D. Johnson,et al.  A Comprehensive Model of Cancer-Related Information Seeking Applied to Magazines , 1993 .

[11]  A Bandura,et al.  Microanalysis of action and fear arousal as a function of differential levels of perceived self-efficacy. , 1982, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[12]  C. Benight,et al.  Bereavement coping self-efficacy in cancer widows. , 2001, Death studies.

[13]  S. Kalichman,et al.  Increased attention to human sexuality can improve HIV-AIDS prevention efforts: key research issues and directions. , 1995, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[14]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under uncertainty: Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases , 1982 .

[15]  S. Kalichman,et al.  Self-efficacy and disclosure of HIV-positive serostatus to sex partners. , 1999, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[16]  Walid A. Afifi.  Harming the ones we love: relational attachment and perceived consequences as predictors of safe-sex behavior. , 1999 .

[17]  Joseph P. Forgas,et al.  Affective influences on attitudes and judgments. , 2003 .

[18]  E. Schor.  The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. , 1990, Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

[19]  Sandra Petronio,et al.  Privacy and Disclosure of Hiv in interpersonal Relationships: A Sourcebook for Researchers and Practitioners , 2003 .

[20]  Truth or consequences: dishonesty in dating and HIV/AIDS-related issues in a college-age population. , 1993, Journal of American college health : J of ACH.

[21]  S. Murray.  The Quest for Conviction: Motivated Cognition in Romantic Relationships , 1999 .

[22]  T. Farley,et al.  HIV-infected persons' knowledge of their sexual partners' HIV status. , 2002, AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education.

[23]  J. G. Holmes,et al.  Seeing virtues in faults: Negativity and the transformation of interpersonal narratives in close relationships. , 1993 .

[24]  R. L. Holbert,et al.  Structural Equation Modeling in the Communication Sciences, 1995–2000 , 2002 .

[25]  J. Kelly,et al.  The effects of HIV/AIDS intervention groups for high-risk women in urban clinics. , 1994, American journal of public health.

[26]  K. Scherer,et al.  Handbook of affective sciences. , 2003 .

[27]  Sunyna S. Williams.  Sexual Lying Among College Students in Close and Casual Relationships1 , 2001 .

[28]  I. Kirsch.  How expectancies shape experience. , 1999 .

[29]  Walid A. Afifi,et al.  Toward a Theory of Motivated Information Management , 2004 .

[30]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases , 1974, Science.

[31]  R. Lance Holbert,et al.  A Monte Carlo Simulation of Observable Versus Latent Variable Structural Equation Modeling Techniques , 2003, Commun. Res..

[32]  Tamara D. Afifi,et al.  ‘Feeling Caught’ in Stepfamilies: Managing Boundary Turbulence through Appropriate Communication Privacy Rules , 2003 .

[33]  G. Marks,et al.  Preventive counseling of HIV-positive men and self-disclosure of serostatus to sex partners: new opportunities for prevention. , 1998, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[34]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  L. Harlow,et al.  Sexual Communication in Relationships: When Words Speak Louder Than Actions , 2000 .

[36]  M. Sobel.  Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models , 1982 .

[37]  A. Satorra.  Structural Equation Models with Latent Variables , 2002 .

[38]  Walid A. Afifi,et al.  Examining predictors and consequences of information seeking in close relationships , 2004 .

[39]  R. Ingham,et al.  Exploring young people's difficulties in talking about contraception: how can we encourage more discussion between partners? , 1999, Health education research.

[40]  E. Herold,et al.  Discussing Sexual Health with a Partner: A Qualitative Study with Young Women , 2002 .

[41]  R. DiClemente,et al.  Partner Influences and Gender-Related Factors Associated with Noncondom Use Among Young Adult African American Women , 1998, American journal of community psychology.

[42]  D. Kahneman.  A perspective on judgment and choice: mapping bounded rationality. , 2003, The American psychologist.

[43]  R. DiClemente,et al.  A randomized controlled trial of an HIV sexual risk-reduction intervention for young African-American women. , 1995, JAMA.

[44]  P. Allison.  CHANGE SCORES AS DEPENDENT VARIABLES IN REGRESSION ANALYSIS , 1990 .

[45]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Social cognition, 2nd ed. , 1991 .

[46]  A. Babrow,et al.  Uncertainty, Value, Communication, and Problematic Integration , 2001 .