Comparing College Students' Value-, Outcome-, and Impression-Relevant Involvement in Health-Related Issues

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of receiver involvement in the context of health communication. Students (N = 277) completed Cho and Boster's (2005) Cho, H. and Boster, F. J. 2005. Development and validation of value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement scales. Communication Research, 32: 235–264. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] measures of value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement across 6 health behaviors, including cigarette smoking, organ and tissue donation, sunscreen use, alcohol use, sexually transmitted disease testing, and nutrition. Confirmatory factor analyses across all 6 health topics provided evidence of the 3-factor structure conceptualized by Johnson and Eagly (1989) Johnson, B. T. and Eagly, A. H. 1989. Effects of involvement on persuasion: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 106: 290–314. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] and measured by Cho and Boster (2005) Cho, H. and Boster, F. J. 2005. Development and validation of value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement scales. Communication Research, 32: 235–264. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. When health behaviors were regressed onto value-, outcome-, and impression-relevant involvement, outcome- and value-involvement, generally speaking, emerged as significant predictors. Results and implications of considering health campaign audience members' levels of involvement are discussed in the domain of preventive medicine.