(2018). A (Re)defining moment for fear appeals: a comment on Kok et al. (2018) Health Psychology Review: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 144-146.

Cyberbullying is the deliberate and repeated misuse of communication technology by an individual or group to threaten or harm others. Guided largely by the communication skills deficiency model and previous research on cyberbullying, this study examins the effects of several predictor variables (i.e., verbal aggression, sex, risky behaviors, parental monitoring, parental limits, technology use, and scope of Internet activities) on cyberbullying perpetration. A total of 1,606 incoming freshmen at a large southwestern university completed an online survey measuring all predictor and dependent variables under investigation. Overall, 35% of these individuals reported that they had cyberbullied at least one person during their senior year of high school. Results indicated that verbal aggression, risky behaviors, and cyberbullying victimization emerged as significant predictors of cyberbullying perpetration. These results have important theoretical and practical implications for those interested in developing cyberbullying prevention interventions.

This study examines the ability of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict whether or not pediatricians encourage parents to get their adolescent daughters vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV). Four-hundred and six pediatricians completed a mail survey measuring attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, intentions, and behavior. Results indicate that pediatricians have positive attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control toward encouraging parents to get their daughters vaccinated, that they intend to regularly encourage parents to get their daughters vaccinated against HPV in the next 30 days, and that they had regularly encouraged parents to get their daughters vaccinated against HPV in the past 30 days (behavior). Though the data were consistent with both the TRA and TPB models, results indicate that perceived behavioral control adds only slightly to the overall predictive power of the TRA, suggesting that attitudes and norms may be more important targets for interventions dealing with this topic and audience. No gender differences were observed for any of the individual variables or the overall fit of either model. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the development of health communication messages targeting health care providers in general, and for those designed to influence pediatricians' communication with parents regarding the HPV vaccine in particular.

Guided largely by the Extended Parallel Process Model, the Arizona Attorney General’s Social Networking Safety Promotion and Cyberbullying Prevention presentation attempts to shape, change, and reinforce middle school students’ perceptions, attitudes, and intentions related to these important social issues. This study evaluated the short-term effects of this presentation in a field experiment using a posttest-only control-group design with random assignment to conditions. A total of 425 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at a public middle school in a large Southwestern city participated in this study. Results reveal several interesting trends across grade levels regarding cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, and concerning access to various communication technologies. The intervention had the hypothesized main effect on eight of the dependent variables under investigation. Examination of condition by grade interaction effects offered further support for an additional four hypotheses (i.e., the intervention positively affected or reversed a negative trend on four dependent variables in at least one grade). Ideas and implications for future social networking safety promotion and cyberbullying prevention interventions are discussed.

This study was conducted to determine the impact of perceived threat and efficacy on college students’ social-distancing behavior during COVID-19 pandemic. Guided by the extended parallel process model (EPPM), this longitudinal study included 164 participants who completed a survey at two points in time. Results were consistent with previous theory and research for all danger control hypotheses (i.e., perceived threat predicted fear, fear and self-efficacy predicted intention, and intention predicted future behavior). For fear control, however, results were inconsistent with EPPM predictions, but consistent with previous research (i.e., fear was either unrelated or inversely related to fear control, and efficacy was inversely related to fear control). Overall, the EPPM constructs explained 69% of the variance in intention, 64% of the variance in behavior, 55% of the variance in defensive avoidance, and 20% of the variance in message derogation. The theoretical and practical insights and implications of these findings are discussed.

A study was conducted to determine the effects of perceived threat and efficacy on physicians' intentions and behavior to test their patients' level of kidney functioning. Guided by the extended parallel process model, 151 physicians completed an initial survey measuring threat to patients (i.e., susceptibility and severity) and efficacy (i.e., response-efficacy and self-efficacy), as well as their current intentions and behavior. One-hundred and twelve of these physicians also completed and returned a follow-up survey sent approximately 4 months later using identical measures of intentions and behavior. As predicted, physicians who perceived greater threat to patients and greater efficacy demonstrated greater intentions and behavior to test their patients' level of kidney functioning. The theoretical and practical insights and implications of these findings are discussed.