Psychology and Health October 2008; 23(7): 829–847 Predicting parental sunscreen use: Disentangling the role of action planning in the intention–behavior relationship LIESBETH VAN OSCH 1 , ASTRID REUBSAET 1 , LILIAN LECHNER 2 , MATH CANDEL 3 , LIESBETH MERCKEN 1 , & HEIN DE VRIES 1 1 School for Public Health and Primary Care (Caphri), Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Maastricht University, The Netherlands, 2 Faculty of Psychology, Open University Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands, and 3 Department of Methodology and Statistics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands (Received 29 January 2007; in final form 14 May 2007) Abstract Structural equation modeling was used to examine antecedents of parental sunscreen use (N ¼ 436) in a longitudinal design. The influence of a volitional planning cognition was assessed in several path models, investigating potential mediation and moderation of the intention–behavior relationship. Premotivational and motivational variables accounted for 55.1% of the variance in intention to use sunscreen. Intention emerged as the most powerful predictor of behavior, followed by action planning and self-efficacy expectations, together explaining 35.4% of parental sunscreen use after five months. Strong support was found for both mediating and moderating influences of action planning on the intention–behavior relationship. Action planning also partially mediated the impact of self-efficacy on behavior. The results support theoretical considerations to add postintentional cognitions to current health behavior models. Although action planning is an important component in the transition from intention to behavior, the impact of intention and of other premotivational and motivational variables should not be overlooked when developing health educational interventions. Keywords: Sun protection, action planning, intention–behavior gap, self-regulation, mediation, moderation Correspondence: Liesbeth van Osch, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands. E-mail: liesbeth.vanosch@gvo.unimaas.nl ISSN 0887-0446 print/ISSN 1476-8321 online ß 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/08870440701596577