Operationalization of the social cognitive theory to explain and predict physical activity in Germany: a scale development.

Introduction: Social cognitive theory is one of the most prominent psychological theories regarding human behavior. Previous research tested and confirmed parts of the theory concerning the explanatory and predictive value of the theory, both in specific populations and in selected domains of physical activity. However, the value of this research is limited as researchers often use their own item sets rather than validated scales.

Specific health beliefs mediate sex differences in food choice.

Objective: Although sex differences in dietary habits are well documented, the etiology of those differences is still a focus of research. The present study examines the role of specific health beliefs regarding healthy amounts of food for food choice and its relation to sex, more specifically, the assumption that sex differences in food choices are mediated by differentiating health beliefs.

Method: 212 German participants (44.

Evaluating self-reported retrospective average daily fruit, vegetable, and egg intake: Trustworthy-Sometimes!

Retrospective self-reports are commonly used to assess dietary intake. Yet, their use is criticized as it is unclear whether the underlying assumptions for valid self-reports are met: Individuals have to consider the behavior of all days in the retention interval and weigh the behavior of all days equally. This study examines whether these assumptions for retrospective self-reports are met and whether interindividual differences in self-report performance are relevant regarding these assumptions.

Faking self-reports of health behavior: a comparison between a within- and a between-subjects design.

Background: This study examines people's ability to fake their reported health behavior and explores the magnitude of such response distortion concerning faking of preventive health behavior and health risk behavior. As health behavior is a sensitive topic, people usually prefer privacy about it or they wish to create a better image of themselves (Fekken et al., 2012; Levy et al.