Predicting Health Behaviors in Young Men That Put Them at Risk for Heart Disease

There were 161 young adult men who completed measures assessing their health beliefs, masculinity, perceptions of the normativeness of health behaviors in other men, and heart healthy behaviors (i.e., diet, exercise, alcohol abuse, tobacco use, and medical screenings). Men's heart-healthy behaviors were predicted by beliefs of benefits to healthy behavior, barriers, health knowledge, normativeness of men's health-promoting behavior, and interaction between masculinity and barriers. The discussion addresses how the Health Belief model applied to men's heart healthy behaviors may be enhanced through greater consideration of sociocontextual variables such as gender role conformity and social norms. The authors suggest that future research might address multi-modal interventions aimed at improving men's heart health that address both beliefs and men's social context.