Cheking the HAPA Model in promoting healthy behaviours involving a normative sample of adolescence

Background: The aim of this contribution is to examine the application of the HAPA-Model (Schwarzer, 2008) in a normative sample of adolescents with reference to three behavioral spheres. The pre-intentional phase was investigated in the area of protected sexual behavior; the pre-action phase involved quitting smoking and the action phase was checked considering sport behavior. Methods: The work involved 307 sexually-active subjects, 128 smokers and 682 physically-active subjects. Multiple regression analysis was conducted. Findings: The results highlight that action self-efficacy predicts the intention to use condom with partner (β =.) and occasional partner (β =.); coping self-efficacy (β =. 22) and planning (β =. 41) affect quitting smoking; maintenance self-efficacy (β =. 15) and intention (β =. 12) predict sport behavior. Discussion: The studies demonstrate the applicability of the HAPA-Model to normative adolescent population with important implications for the implementation of health education programs in educational contexts (Petrillo, 2008)