Studying the Relations of Behavioral Inhibition and Activation System Sensitivities and Time Perspective Orientations with Skin Cancer Screening Behaviors in Older Adults: Do Skin Cancer Screening Perceptions Mediate These Relations?

To advance current research on skin cancer screening perceptions and behaviors, we investigate two distinct but related theoretical perspectives: (1) the behavioral inhibition and activation system and (2) time perspective orientations. Utilizing a sample of older adults (age >55), our results show that behavioral activation system sensitivities do not relate to skin cancer screening perceptions or behaviors, whereas behavioral inhibition system sensitivities produce offsetting effects. Our results also show that Past Positive and Present Fatalistic orientations produce a positive and a negative relation with skin cancer screening behaviors, respectively, but Future orientation surprisingly does not relate to skin cancer screening perceptions or behaviors.