Social psychological mediators of the relationship between demographic factors and health outcomes: A theoretical model and some preliminary data

Psychological research on health is concerned with inputs, processes, and outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to argue that many of the processes that provide the links between inputs and outcomes are social psychological in nature. The paper will be divided into three parts. First we shall outline some of the most important inputs that are known to influence health outcomes, and we shall review the main social psychological processes through which the inputs and outcomes are mediated. The variables will be drawn together into a theoretical model. In the second section of the paper we shall present three projects of our own in which aspects of the model have been tested empirically: predicting first-time mothers' responses to childbirth; predicting women's responses to breast cancer screening; and predicting safe riding among motorcyclists. In the final section we shall draw together the theoretical implications of our approach for future research.