OBJECTIVE: To investigate gender differences in stage-of-change distribution, self-efficacy, and decisional balance, for 3 health behaviors. METHODS: Five hundred fifty-four (males = 107; females = 447) low-income, predominantly African American, patients completed stage-of- change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance scales for smoking cessation, exercise adoption, and dietary fat reduction. RESULTS: Males and females differ in stage of change for smoking and exercise, but not dietary fat intake. CONCLUSIONS: Gender-specific interventions may be needed to promote certain health behaviors but not others, and self-efficacy and decisional balance may be related differently to stage of change in low-income populations.
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O’Hea et al. (2003) studied this question.