Volume 29, Issue 5: October, 2002

Abstract

Predictors of Intention to Promote Family Planning: A Survey of Protestant Seminarians in the United States

Patricia Goodson, PhD

The purpose of this study was to examine Protestant seminary students' intention to promote family planning. Intention to promote family planning and its predictors were examined by testing a conceptual model based on the theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory. A nonrepresentative sample of 635 seminarians (90.5% Anglo; 66.5% male) from 10 theological schools in the United States completed a mailed survey. Students were classified according to their religious beliefs as conservative (61.9%) and nonconservative (38.1%), and group differences in intention (and its correlates) were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to assess relationships among attitudes toward sexuality, attitudes toward family planning, subjective norms, knowledge, self-efficacy, and intention for both conservative and nonconservative students. Results indicated that the relationships among predictors of intention were essentially similar for both conservative and nonconservative seminarians, with attitudes and self-efficacy for promoting family planning exhibiting the strongest direct effects on intention.