THE RELATION BETWEEN PERCEIVED RISK AND PREVENTIVE ACTION - A WITHIN-SUBJECT ANALYSIS OF PERCEIVED DRIVING RISK AND INTENTIONS TO WEAR SEAT-BELTS

Intentions to wear seatbelts in 12 different driving situations were predicted from attitudes toward wearing seatbelts, subjective norms concerning seatbelt uses, and perceived driving risk. In a given driving situation, appropriate measures of attitudes and subjective norms both had significant effects on intentions to wear a seatbelt, whereas there was little relation between risk and intentions. Intentions across the 12 driving situations were significantly related to perceived driving risk, both for aggregate data and for a substantial portion of individual subjects. However, further analyses indicated that risk seemed to affect intentions indirectly through subjective norms and attitudes associated with seat‐belt use. The results suggest that attempts to increase seatbelt use should target all relevant beliefs important in determining people's attitudes toward and subjective norms concerning seatbelt use, rather than just focusing upon making people aware of the risks associated with driving. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved