Why People Seek Dental Care: A Test of a Conceptual Formulation

Belief and attitude data on certain variables comparable to variables used in other studies of preventive health behavior were collected from a random sample of factory employees in 1958 and used to make predictions as to whether these employees would make preventive or symptomatic dental visits over the next three years. The current study examines the adequacy of these variables for predictive purposes, and suggests the revelance of other variables for prediction. It is found that the best single predictor of behavior is prior behavior. The status of the variables which led to these two studies is examined and their strengths and weaknesses noted.