Actual and Intended Health-Related Information Seeking and Health Locus of Control

Abstract
Individuals with an internal health locus of control orientation and high health value have been found to express an intent to obtain a greater mean number of health pamphlets than people with an external orientation and/or low health value. After measures of behavioral intent were obtained, college students were afforded the opportunity to actually receive health-related written information. The previously stated finding was replicated for intended but not for actual health-related information seeking. The weak relationship found between actual and intended information seeking calls into question studies using intent measures as if they were almost identical to actual behavior.

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