Social Cognitive Theory
The social cognitive theory is a behavioral model that focuses on the influence of individual experiences, the activities of others, and environmental parameters toward an individual’s health. The social cognitive theory model has five main components, namely; self-efficacy, which is a person’s belief that a person has control and can execute a behavior. The second parameter in social cognitive theory is a behavioral capability, which is where a person can understand and have the skill to perform a behavior. The third component is expectations whereby a person determines the outcomes of behavior change. Expectancies are also a key component of social cognitive theory where a value is assigned to the results of the changes in behavior. The fourth component is self-control, which is the ability of a person to regulate and monitor a person’s behavior (Jang & Yoo, 2012). Observational learning is also a component of social cognitive theory where a person can watch and observe the effects of other people as they perform and modeling their behavior based on what they observe. The final component is reinforcement, which is the promoting incentives that encourage behavior change.
Hypertension is a chronic illness that affects almost half the population in America. Even though hypertension is more prevalent among the aged population, cases of hypertension tend to increase with an increase with age. In the USA, for example, the prevalence of hypertension is 7.5% among adults aged 18-39 to 33.2% among those aged 40-59, and 63.1% among those above 60 (CDC, 2020). The social cognitive theory can explain this gradual increase in the prevalence of hypertension in the American population. The graphic representation posits that young people increasingly learn from older people and the environment and adopt lifestyles that cause hypertension. Such lifestyle habits include smoking, eating junk food, and practicing a sedentary lifestyle. Furthermore, as a person grows older, they tend to become more financially stable, and this financial ability provides them with the behavioral ability to afford the lifestyles that are related to hypertension, such as smoking and drinking. Also, as a person grows up, a sedentary lifestyle becomes idealized through expectations such as having an office job, which makes a person live a dormant life, and this contributes to the increased prevalence of hypertension as age increases. Also, as a person grows up outside, supervision over lifestyle decisions increases. People no longer depend on their parents, and most are married and no longer feel the need to practice a healthier lifestyle. This is supported by Sobal et al. (1992), who writes that males in marital associations tend to have higher obesity and morbidity levels relative to those who are not married (Sobal et al., 1992). This can be explained with the less active lifestyles that married men live as they do not perform many duties at home, and most work in sedentary workplaces to earn a living for their children.
The social cognitive theory applies differently to a population of people and an individual. The social cognitive theory posits that the interactions between an individual and other people cause changes in the individual’s behavior. The changes are influenced by factors such as the individual’s self-efficacy, observational learning, reinforcements, behavioral capability, and self-control of the individual. For example, if an individual has a strong sense of self-control, they are unlikely to indulge in lifestyle choices that are likely to lead in hypertension, even if the community around them practices such as lifestyle choices. The social cognitive theory thus argues that awareness is vital in any effort aimed at reducing the prevalence of hypertension. The social cognitive theory argues that by targeting population demographics where there is a high prevalence of chronic preventable illnesses such as hypertension, the prevalence of the disease is likely to reduce as the individuals in the population will influence each other.