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Value Priorities and Organ Donation in Young Adults
Author(s) -
Ryckman Richard M.,
Borne Bart,
Thornton Bill,
Gold Joel A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2005.tb02109.x
Subject(s) - organ donation , psychology , test (biology) , donation , personality , social psychology , value (mathematics) , medical education , honesty , medicine , transplantation , law , surgery , paleontology , machine learning , biology , political science , computer science
This research identifies major personal values among American university students that predict organ‐donation registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated whether or not they had registered as posthumous donors, and filled out a personality inventory measuring their personal values (Schwartz, 1992, 1994). The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation; and the greater the level of knowledge, the more likely participants were registered to donate their organs. Also, participants higher in benevolence, universalism, achievement, and stimulation were more likely to have registered to donate their organs. The results are discussed in terms of the need to develop more effective health‐communication campaigns by using specific health‐education messages tailored to students majoring in different disciplines or to people in various occupations as a means of increasing their willingness to donate.