A Longitudinal Study of Adolescents' Attitude-Behavior Consistency

The attitudes and self-reported behaviors of outgoingness toward other people among a group of over 100 male adolescents were measured each semester for the last five semesters of high school. Cross-lagged panel correlation differences show a tendency (seven of nine times) for attitudes to be nonspuriously antecedent to behaviors. During the first three semesters different observational composites of behaviors correlated positively with the self-reported measures of behaviors. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of social adaptation theory. A distinction is drawn between assimilatory and accommodative situations. It is suggested that attitudes and behaviors are more likely to be consistent in assimilatory than accommodative situations

Kahle, L. R., Klingel, D. M., & Kulka, R. (1981). A Longitudinal Study of Adolescents' Attitude-Behavior Consistency. Public Opinion Quarterly, 45(3), 402-414.