Three studies compared the predictive validity of three proximal antecedents to risk behavior: behavioral intention (BI), behavioral expectation (BE), and behavioral willingness (BW). In Study 1, BW was the only significant predictor of change in substance use in early adolescence (age 13), whereas only BI was significant in middle adolescence (age 16). In Study 2, BW was a better predictor of change in smoking among young adolescents than was BE, but BE became predominant by middle adolescence. By late adolescence, previous behavior surpassed both BE and BW. When only smoking initiation was examined, BW was a better predictor than was BE. In Study 3, BI, BW, and BE independently predicted class skipping. However, BI was a better predictor for students more experienced with the behavior, whereas BW was superior for less experienced students. The findings provide evidence of a developmental shift from more reactive to more reasoned processing, as experience with the behavior increases.

This prospective study examined the relation between 308 adolescents' images of typical dinkers and nondrinkers and their subsequent alcohol consumption. The results indicate that both images are associated with changes in consumption between ages 16 and 18 but that they operate in different ways. Contrary to previous assumptions, drinker images do not represent goal states for adolescents in that they are more negative than their self-images and nondrinker images and are not correlated with their ideal selves. In contrast, nondrinker images do appear to represent goal states for adolescents who abstain from drinking. Implications for intervention are discussed.

This study investigated the impact of health-related prototypes and possible selves on exercise behavior. In addition, this study examined if these effects might be moderated by individual differences-specifically social comparison (SC) and consideration of future consequences (CFC). One hundred and fifty-two students participated in all three waves of the study-premanipulation, manipulation, and follow-up. As expected, results indicated that individuals who were high on SC and exposed to a prototype manipulation increased their exercise behavior at follow-up. Furthermore, individuals who were future-oriented and exposed to a possible selves manipulation increased their exercise behavior at follow-up. Overall, results revealed that health images have an important impact on health behavior. Implications for behavior change are discussed.

Most research on alcohol consumption has considered the impact of social influences, such as parental and peer factors, separately from more cognitive factors, such as alcohol expectancies. No research to date has prospectively considered the antecedents to alcohol expectancies and how they may relate to other alcoholrelated cognitions (e.g., risk images). Using a recently developed model of health behavior in a longitudinal study with a sample of 357 adolescents and their parents, the current study investigated the combined impact of social, parental, and cognitive factors on alcohol expectancies, consumption, and alcohol-related life problems. Results suggest that parental and social factors are antecedents to expectancies and that cognitive factors mediate the impact of parental influence on consumption.The association between adolescent drinking and both participation in other risk behaviors (e.g., smoking or early initiation of sexual intercourse) and increased risk for later substance abuse is well documented (Biglan et al.,

The current article reviews prospective and experimental research on the relation between self-esteem and perceptions of vulnerability. These studies demonstrate that individuals with high self-esteem who engage in risk behavior often utilize a variety of self-serving cognitive strategies that protect them from fully acknowledging their vulnerability to the potential negative consequences of their behavior; e.g., they minimize their estimates of personal risk and overestimate the prevalence of the risk behavior among their peers. The article also provides data on an additional self-serving cognitive strategy employed by adolescents with high self-esteem--alteration of perceptions of others' reactions to their own risk behavior. Finally, the article reviews the emerging literature on the relation between these cognitive strategies and maladaptive health behavior, and proposes that whether these strategies are maladaptive depends on the nature of the threat and the availability of opportunities to engage in compensatory self-enhancement.