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Attitude and self‐efficacy are important predictors of the intention to continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months among WIC participants
Author(s) -
Bai Yeon,
Middlestadt Susan E,
Fly Alyce D,
Wunderlich Shahla
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.546.1
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , psychological intervention , psychosocial , theory of planned behavior , socioeconomic status , self efficacy , demography , medicine , demographics , psychology , social psychology , pediatrics , environmental health , population , psychiatry , sociology , control (management) , management , economics
One in ten US mothers continues exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the recommended duration, the first six months of life. Theory‐based interventions can be effective in meeting the recommendation. This study was conducted to examine psychosocial factors underlying the behavior "continuation of EBF for six months", relative to socioeconomic status(WIC, non‐WIC) using Fishbein's integrative model. Postpartum mothers who initiated EBF (N=188) were recruited from hospitals in Central Indiana and Southern New Jersey. Participants completed a questionnaire that measured constructs and underlying beliefs of the behavior to predict intention. Participant demographics were 69.7% White, 61.2% married, 50.5% WIC participants, and 29 ±6.1 years old. Attitude (A), subjective norm (SN), and self‐efficacy (SE) accounted for a significant proportion of the intention ( p <.01): R 2 =44.1%, R=0.66 for WIC, R 2 =70.8%, R=0.84 for non‐WIC. Regression weights (β) were compared to determine the relative importance of constructs to intention for each group. Influential theoretical constructs were A (β=0.43) and SE (β=0.28) for WIC, but SN (β=0.35) and SE (β=0.58) for non‐WIC. Improving self‐efficacy should increase the EBF continuation rate in both groups. Interventions should educate WIC mothers on advantages/disadvantages of the behavior, and improve opinions of the behavior held by non‐WIC mother's social referents.