Psychology Faculty Publications

Beliefs Versus Actions: Assessing Abortion Views and Behaviors at Two Colleges

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2007

Journal Title

Social Behavior and Personality

Volume

35

Issue

10

First Page

1325

Last Page

1334

Abstract

The study assesses discrepancies between people’s beliefs and behaviors with regard to abortion. Participants in this research were two college student populations who have strong, but opposite views, about abortion. Both groups were surveyed regarding their beliefs about abortion and a subset of students was subsequently selected and asked to volunteer an hour of their time at a local Crisis Pregnancy or Planned Parenthood Center. The respective reported views did not predict behavior relative to actually assisting at Crisis Pregnancy or at Planned Parenthood. Thus we concluded that while students may hold strong beliefs about issues such as abortion, they are reluctant to take action regarding these reported attitudes.

Keywords

Beliefs, actions, abortion, college students, pregnancy, parenthood.

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