| Summary: | Designs and Samples. Four questionnaire-based studies were conducted: one prospective study with 67 adults, followed up at three months; and three cross-sectional studies with sample sizes of 136, 147 and 283. Each study included female and male participants, who were aged 20 or over and lived in Great Britain. Measures. A range of individual differences were measured within the four studies. These included health locus of control beliefs, coping responses, general anxiety, anxiety in relation to health and to performing self-examinations, worry about breast or testicular cancer, perceived breast or testicular cancer risk, dispositional optimism, health optimism, and socially desirable responding. In addition, female participants provided self-reports of their breast self-examination behaviour and in the final study, whether or not they were ‘breast aware’; while male participants gave self-reports of their testicular self-examination behaviour. Results. Multiple regression analyses revealed that worry about breast or testicular cancer and anxiety about performing self-examinations operated as the most consistent independent predictors of self-examination behaviour. In addition, ANCOVAs showed that perceived breast or testicular cancer risk and dispositional optimism were significantly associated with self-examination frequency. Across the four studies, associations between the individual differences and adults’ self-examination behaviour were generally evidenced as being similar for females and males. Utilising data from the final study, a model of individual differences and breast or testicular self-examination behaviour was constructed and proposed. Conclusions. The present research has demonstrated associations between a number of individual differences and breast or testicular self-examination. These findings indicate the potential impact of individual differences on adults’ self-examination behaviour.
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