MEASURING CANCER RISK PERCEPTION DURING YOUNG ADULTHOOD: A PERCEIVED TEMPORAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CANCER

Purpose: Little research has been conducted on the psychometrics of a scale for perceived susceptibility to cancer that considers time orientation among young adults. The purpose of this study is to test the reliability and validity of a scale called perceived temporal susceptibility scale (PTSS).

   Method: In this study, 480 young adults completed a cross sectional survey to report their PTS, general absolute risk, comparative risk, and socio-demographic information. PTSS involved four items of perceived absolute risk, however at different time points in a lifetime. The items were the following: “How possible were you to contract cancer in the next year?”, “in five years?”, “in ten year?”, and “in your lifetime?”

   Result: Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good model fit, with three factors differentiating between absolute risk, comparative risk, and PTS. PTSS demonstrated an adequate internal consistency (α = 0.91). Between-items comparisons for PTSS showed that the more the item referred to cancer incidence further in the future, the higher was perceived the susceptibility of contracting cancer. As expected, higher scores for PTSS were associated with belonging to the cancer community [F (1, 470) = 18.19, p < 0.01], being White/Caucasian [F (1, 469) = 10.58, p < 0.01], being female [F (1, 475) = 9.44, p < 0.05], intending to seek cancer-related information (r = 0.12, p < 0.01), and expressing lower self-efficacy for cancer prevention (r = - 0.36, p < 0.001). Age difference was also observed with respect to PTSS, such that young adults of eighteen years of age were less likely to perceive cancer risk than those older than twenty two years. Comparative and absolute risk measures did not relate to all socio-demographic factors. The PTSS item indicating perceived susceptibility in ten years was related to all factors.

   Conclusion: This study provides evidence to support the use of PTSS for the measurement of perceived susceptibility in the near future, as compared with comparative and lifetime risk measures. Future research may investigate PTSS with different age groups and examine how individuals make healthy decisions depending on their near future risk perceptions. In practice, PTSS may be applicable for use among young-adult cancer survivors who are vulnerable to cancer recurrence and need to make decisions based on their near future risk.