Relation between readiness for behavior change and psychological assets of Japanese adults

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the readiness of behavior modification in Japanese and their psychological assets and to find what is the most useful psychological assets with that results. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted in 3 municipalities in Japan from October to December in 2008. Three thousand individuals were selected as a study population aged 40 to 74 y.o. Readiness for change and psychological assets were evaluated using four-point scale from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree". Using the readiness of behavior change as a dependent variable, unconditional logistic models were analyzed and odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results: Of 2,458 participants, 1,869 individuals answered all of the questions in this survey.

The participants who were ready for behavior modification were 54 %. Self efficacy (OR = 4.1, 95% CI, 3.1-5.3), motivation (OR = 3.0, 95% CI, 2.3-3.9), social support (OR = 2.9, 95% CI, 2.3-3.7), outcome expectancy (OR = 1.9, 95% CI, 1.4- 2.6), knowledge (OR 1.8, 95% CI, 1.3-2.3) and perceived barriers (OR = 1.4, 95% CI, 1.1- 1.8) were highly related to the readiness for behavior change. Locus of control and perceived threat were not related to the stage of readiness. Conclusion: This study may suggest that promoting the factors strongly related to the readiness for behavior change such as self efficacy, motivation could be very useful for behavior change of Japanese.