Fini, Maryam BaghizadehRyu, YoonjiMahaffey, Carlos C.Rhoads, Kelley E.Han, Ho2024-12-022024-12-022023-12-01Fini, M. B., Ryu, Y., Mahaffey, C. C., Rhoads, K. E., Han, H. (2023). Preventive dental behaviors among U.S. college students: Application of the Health Belief Model. American Journal of Health Behavior, 47(6), pp. 1246-1257. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.47.6.171087-3244https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14446/345713Objectives: Evaluate college students’ preventive dental behaviors based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), identify key constructs of HBM to promote preventive dental behaviors, and determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students’ preventive dental behaviors. Methods: The data for this cross-sectional study were collected from 550 college students (ages 18 to 25; 69.8% female) through an online survey. Participants were recruited through a random sampling process. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data. A multivariate analysis of variance was applied to examine the relationship between HBM and preventive dental behaviors. In addition, chi-square was used to determine the prevalence of preventive dental behaviors associated with dental knowledge. Results: Perceived barriers and self-efficacy were significant predictors of preventive dental behaviors (p < 0.001). Also, a significantly higher proportion of students with sufficient dental knowledge met the recommendations for tooth brushing and dental checkups compared to those with deficient or moderate dental knowledge (p < 0.05). Although most of the participants reported no influence of COVID-19 on their preventive dental behaviors, a considerable number of the students still reported the influences of COVID-19 (tooth brushing: 20.9%; tooth flossing: 10.6%; dental checkups: 18.8%). Conclusions: The Health Belief Model could be an effective framework to promote preventive dental behaviors for college students, particularly, using perceived barriers and self-efficacy.application/pdfThis material has been previously published. In the Oklahoma State University Library's institutional repository this version is made available through the open access principles and the terms of agreement/consent between the author(s) and the publisher. The permission policy on the use, reproduction or distribution of the material falls under fair use for educational, scholarship, and research purposes. Contact Digital Resources and Discovery Services at lib-dls@okstate.edu or 405-744-9161 for further information.10.5993/AJHB.47.6.17Articleclinical and health psychologysocial and personality psychologypublic healthhealth sciencespsychologydental/oral and craniofacial diseaseemerging infectious diseasesbehavioral and social sciencecoronavirusesinfectious diseasespreventionoral and gastrointestinalgood health and well beingpublic health and health servicescurriculum and pedagogypublic healthhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ScopusID: 57211337377 (Fini, MB)ScopusID: 57204181198 (Ryu, Y)ORCID: 0000-0002-9770-3516 (Mahaffey, CC)ScopusID: 55192720100 (Mahaffey, CC)ORCID: 0000-0001-7400-2816 (Rhoads, KE)ScopusID: 56921757000 (Rhoads, KE)ORCID: 0000-0003-4241-7317 (Han, H)ScopusID: 57191291072 (Han, H)1945-7359