Socio-Cultural and Environmental Theories of Health Behavior Change

What is a Social/Environmental Context?

•The frame that you place your life picture

•The forces that influence the way in which you develop

•The backdrop for the development of your unique set of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors

• An offshoot of behaviorism

• Components of SCT– Individual characteristics– Environmental factors– Reciprocal determinism

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)

Examples of SCT

• A 16 year-old girl Maria

• A 14 year-old boy Joe

• A 65 year-old man David

The Individual Characteristics of SCT

• Self-Efficacy

• Behavioral Capability

• Expectations

• Expectancies

• Self-Control

• Emotional Coping

Environmental Factors of SCT

• Vicarious Learning

• Situation

• Reinforcement

• Reciprocal Determinism

Using SCT

• Let’s try the theory

Critique of SCT

• Very Complex

• Theory has gone through a shift from an emphasis on behavioral variants to self-efficacy

Social Network Theory (SNT)

• Individual personal characteristics are not so important to understanding behavior

• What is important is what occurs between people that is important– Friendships– Family connections– Professional relationships

SNT Issues

• Who is in a person’s network• The frequency of interactions between people in

the network• The types of interactions between people in the

network• Differences in relational roles

– Leaders– Followers– Planners

• Are there groups or cliques that control the social network?

Network Qualities

• Centrality vs. marginality of individuals in the network

• Reciprocity of relationships

• Complexity or intensity of relationships

• Homogeneity or diversity of the people in the network

• Communication patterns in the network