Applying the health action process approach to safe listening behavior among young adults

Unsafe use of earphones and headphones places young people at increasing risk for hearing loss and represents a growing public health concern. This study examined whether the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) can explain safe listening behavior among young adults. We conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey of 988 participants aged 18–39 years in the Tokai region of Japan. The survey assessed demographic characteristics, safe listening behavior, knowledge of safe listening, and HAPA-based psychological constructs, including risk perception, outcome expectancy, action self-efficacy, behavioral intention, and planning. Structural equation modeling showed an acceptable model fit and explained 34% of the variance in safe listening behavior. These findings suggest that the HAPA model offers a useful framework for understanding the psychological mechanisms that support safe listening behavior among young adults.