The Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was used to investigate the factors influencing South African female students' decision on whether or not to engage in premarital sexual intercourse. The group of participants consisted of 100 female heterosexual university students who were selected from a larger sample on the basis of sexual inexperience. As anticipated by the theory, both attitudes and subjective norms were found to predict intentions, with attitudes emerging as the stronger predictor. Additional analyses revealed that the hypothesized relationship between attitudes and the cognitive bases, beliefs about the outcome of premarital sexual relations, and the evaluation of these outcomes was supported. However, contrary to the theory, subjective norms were not correlated with motivation to comply with the perceived views of salient referents. The results are discussed in the context of a society in which AIDS is epidemic.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AjzenI. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
2.
AjzenI.FishbeinM. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
3.
AjzenI.MaddenT. J. (1986). Prediction of goal-directed behavior: Attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 453–474.
4.
ArmitageC. J.ConnerM. (2001). Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: A meta-analytic review. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 471–499.
5.
ArmitageC. J.ConnerM.LoachJ.WillettsD. (1999). Different perceptions of control: Applying an extended Theory of Planned Behavior to legal and illegal drug use. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 301–316.
6.
AugoustinosM.WalkerI. (1995). Social cognition.London: Sage.
7.
BandaweC. R.FosterD. (1996). AIDS-related beliefs, attitudes and intentions among Malawian students in three secondary schools. AIDS Care, 8, 223–232.
8.
BogartL. M.CecilH.PinkertonS. D. (2000). Intentions to use the female condom among African American adults. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 1923–1953.
9.
BoydB.WandersmanA. (1991). Predicting undergraduate condom use with the Fishbein and Ajzen and the Triandis attitude-behavior models: Implications for public health interventions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1810–1830.
10.
CarrollJ. L.VolkK. D.HydeJ. S. (1985). Differences between males and females in motives for engaging in sexual intercourse. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14, 131–139.
11.
ChristopherF. S.RoosaM. W. (1991). Factors affecting sexual decisions in the premarital relationships of adolescents and young adults. In McKinneyK.SprecherS. (Eds), Sexuality in close relationships. (pp. 111–133). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
12.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press.
13.
D'AugelliJ. F.D'AugelliA. R. (1977). Moral reasoning and premarital sexual behavior: Toward reasoning about relationships. Journal of Social Issues, 33, 46–66.
14.
De WaalA. (2003, March 23). AIDS: Africa's greatest leadership challenge. Roles and approaches for an effective response. Justice Africa.http://www.justiceafrica.org/aids5.html. Accessed on 23 March 2003.
15.
FalboT.BeckerH. A. (1980). The Fishbein Model: Triumphs, problems, and prospects. In BurchT. K. (Eds), Demographic behavior: Interdisciplinary perspectives on decision making. (pp. 125–140). Colorado: Westview Press, Inc.
16.
FishbeinM.AjzenI. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research.Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.
17.
HewstoneM.YoungL. (1988). Expectancy-value models of attitude: Measurement and combination of evaluations and beliefs. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 958–971.
HoskenP. F. (1993). The Hosken report. Genital and sexual mutilation of females (4th ed.). Lexington: Women's International Network News.
20.
HynieM.LydonJ. E.TaradashA. (1997). Commitment, intimacy, and women's perceptions of premarital sex and contraceptive readiness. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 447–464.
21.
JorgensenS. R.SonstegardJ. S. (1984). Predicting adolescent sexual and contraceptive behavior: An application and test of the Fishbein model. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 43–55.
22.
KashimaY.GalloisC.McCamishM. (1993). The theory of reasoned action and cooperative behaviour: It takes two to use a condom. British Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 227–239.
23.
KasprzykD.MontanoD. E.FishbeinM. (1998). Application of an integrated behavioural model to predict condom use: A prospective study among high HIV risk groups. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28, 1557–15583.
24.
KleppK. I.NdekiS. S.ThuenF.LeshabariM.SehaA. M. (1996). Predictors of intention to be sexually active among Tanzanian school children. East African Medical Journal, 75, 218–224.
25.
LindeggerG.WoodG. (1995). The AIDS crisis: Review of psychological issues and implications, with special reference to the South African situation. South African Journal of Psychology, 25, 1–11.
26.
MacleodC. (1999a). Teenage pregnancy and its ‘negative’ consequences: Review of South African research. Part 1. South African Journal of Psychology, 29, 1–7.
27.
MacleodC. (1999b). The ‘causes’ of teenage pregnancy: Review of South African research – Part 2. South African Journal of Psychology, 29, 8–16.
28.
MansteadA. S. R.ParkerD. (1995). Evaluating and extending the Theory of Planned Behaviour. In StroebeW.HewstoneM. (Eds), European Review of Social Psychology, Vol. 6. (pp.69–95). Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley & Sons.
29.
Medical Research Council (1999). South African demographic and health survey of 1998: Preliminary Report.Cape Town: Author.
30.
MilesL. (1992). Women, AIDS, power and heterosexual negotiation: A discourse analysis. Agenda, 15, 14–27.
31.
MiniardP. W.CohenJ. B. (1981). An examination of the Fishbein-Ajzen behavioral-intentions model's concepts and measures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 17, 309–339.
32.
NicholasL. (1995). Black South African freshmen's experiences of first coitus and contraception. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 17, 275–282.
33.
NicholasL. (1998). Black South African students' beliefs and attitudes about condoms. Psychological Reports, 83, 891–894.
34.
NicholasL.DurrheimK. (1995). Religiosity, AIDS, and sexuality knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices of Black South African first-year university students. Psychological Reports, 77, 1328–1330.
35.
NicholasL.TredouxC.DanielsP. (1994). AIDS knowledge and attitudes towards homosexuals of Black first-year university students: 1990–1992. Psychological Reports, 75, 819–823.
36.
PagelM. D.DavidsonA. R. (1984). A comparison of three social-psychological models of attitude and behavioral plan: Prediction of contraceptive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 517–533.
37.
ParkH-SLevineT. R. (1999). The Theory of Reasoned Action and self-construal: Evidence from three cultures. Communication Monographs, 66, 199–218.
38.
ReedD.WeinbergM. S. (1984). Premarital coitus: Developing and establishing sexual scripts. Social Psychology Quarterly, 47, 129–138.
39.
RichterL.Swart-KrugerJ. (1995). AIDS-risk among street children and youth: Implications for intervention. South African Journal of Psychology, 25, 31–38.
40.
RutterD. R. (2000). Attendance and reattendance for breast cancer screening: A prospective 3-year test of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. British Journal of Health Psychology, 5, 1–13.
41.
StrebelA.LindeggerG. (1998). Power and responsibility: Shifting discourses of gender and HIV/AIDS. Psychology in Society, 24, 4–20.
42.
TallisV. (2000). Gendering the response to HIV/AIDS: Challenging gender inequality. Agenda, 44, 58–66.
43.
TarisT.W.SeminG.R. (1999). Sexual efficacy of adolescents, permissiveness, and the transition toward nonvirginity: From intention to behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 903–917.
44.
TerryD. J.GalliganR. F.ConwayV. J. (1993). The prediction of safe sex behaviour: The role of intentions, attitudes, norms and control beliefs. Psychology and Health, 8, 355–368.
45.
VallerandR. J.DeshaiesP.CuerrierJ.PelletierL. G.MongeauC. (1992). Ajzen and Fishbein's theory of reasoned action as applied to moral behavior: A confirmatory analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 98–109.
46.
WeisD. L. (1983). Affective reactions of women to their initial experience of coitus. Journal of Sex Research, 19, 209–237.
47.
WhiteK. M.TerryD. J.HoggM. A. (1994). Safer sex behavior: The role of attitudes, norms, and control factors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24, 2164–2192.
48.
WongC-YTangC. S-K. (2001). Understanding Chinese college students' intention to adopt safer sexual behaviours. Journal of Sex Research, 38, 118–126.
