Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 20, Issue 3, May–June 1995, Pages 299-320
Addictive Behaviors

An empirical typology of subjects within stage of change

https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4603(94)00069-BGet rights and content

Abstract

The transtheoretical model of behavior change postulates five distinct, welldefined stages of change: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance. Each stage has been regarded as reflecting a motivational posture and treated as if it is homogenous with respect to membership. This paper reports the results of four cluster analytic studies, one within each of the first four stages of change. The cluster analysis was based on three constructs of the model. Four distinct subtypes were found within Contemplation, Preparation, and Action, and three subtypes were found within Precontemplation. External validation for the clusters was provided using the 10 Processes of Change and 8 behavioral measures as dependent measures. At least one subtype corresponded to the existing stage definition but the other subtypes suggested alternative intervention strategies.

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      In the simultaneous case, the feedback is based on the profile of the individual across different TTM variables (Levesque, Driskell, & Prochaska, 2008). For smoking cessation, a series of cluster analysis studies starting with Velicer, Hughes, Fava, Prochaska, and DiClemente (1995) have found consistent subtypes within each stage of change. The subtypes have been replicated across multiple samples for smoking cessation (Anatchkova, Velicer, & Prochaska, 2005, 2006a, 2006b; Dijkstra, Bakker, & deVries, 1997; Kremers, Mudde, & deVries, 2001; Norman, Velicer, Fava, & Prochaska, 2000).

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      Cluster analyses were used to classify participants with respect to motivational profiles across the different dimensions in stages of change. Cluster analysis has the advantage of providing an empirically based approach to identify subgroups with similar characteristics (Velicer et al., 1995). In previous studies, the URICA yielded two to nine distinct clusters (Blanchard et al., 2003; DiClemente and Hughes, 1990; McConnaughy et al., 1983, 1989; Prochaska and DiClemente, 1983), and motivational subtypes exhibited good concurrent validity in some samples (Carney and Kivlahan, 1995; Edens and Willoughby, 1999).

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    This research was partially supported by Grants CA 27021 and CA 50087 from the National Cancer Institute.

    Early versions of the paper were presented at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, April, 1990, Chicago; the American Psychological Association Meeting, August, 1990, Boston, and the American Psychological Association meeting, August, 1991, San Francisco; and the 25th International Congress of Psychology, Brussels, July, 1992.

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