Moderating effect of socioeconomic status on the relationship between health cognitions and behaviors

There is an established link between socioeconomic status (SES) and performance of health behaviors with more health protective and fewer health-risking behaviors in higher SES groups. This research is novel in testing the moderating effect of SES on the relationship among intention, self-efficacy, and subsequent behavior. Effects were tested on data from three prospective correlational studies examining smoking initiation in adolescents (N = 826), breastfeeding in primiparous women (N = 202), and physical activity in working adults (N = 509). Despite examining different behaviors, samples, time intervals, and measures of SES, each study showed significant interactions between intention and SES in predicting behavior. In all three tests, the intention–behavior relationship was attenuated among individuals from lower SES groups. No moderation effects of SES were found for self-efficacy. The intention–health behavior relationship can be attenuated in lower SES samples. This finding may contribute to our understanding of SES differences in health behaviors.