A Study on the Relationship Between Health Protective Behavior and Health Locus of Control

예방적 건강행위와 건강통제위 성격 성향과의 관계에 대한 연구

It is assumed that the more society advances in its complexity and development, the more people pay attention to their health and accordingly the more people tend to practice health protective behavior. Most of human behavior is based on social inter-actions. The concept in Locus of Control has been developed from social learning theory to help better understanding the social phenomena affecting human behavior. Multidimensional Health Locus of Control is consisted of three dimensions: Internal, Powerful Others and Chance. This study was conducted to find out the health protective behavior patterns of the people and its relationship with Health Locus of Control as an influencing factor to their behavior. All the subjects in this study were the ones of the bank employees in Seoul, Among the total of 1,430 bank employees, 761 were chosen as a sampled subjects. Questionnair survey was conducted from March 4 to March 13, 1985. Research instruments used in this study were two kinds, one was the Health Locus of Control Scale developed by Wallston & Wallston and the other was the Measuring Scale for Health Protective Behavior developed by the investigator. Analysis of data was done by using Descriptive Statistics, X²-test, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results of this study are summarized as follows: The mean score of Internal was 24.1, Powerful others was 19.7 and Chance was 15.3 out of maximum range of 6-30 respectively. The mean score of Health Protective Behavior Scale fell as 53.2 out of a maximum range of 18-90. Internals were more likely closely related with sex, educational levels and religion, Powerful others were related with age, educational levels and the number of family members. Chances were related with edu cational levels. The older the subjects were, the more concerned about their health. They tended to practice more favorable health protective behaviors. Furthermore, married people tended to fay more attention to their health than single individuals. Also, the number of family members and religion affected their attitudes in the health protective behavior patterns. Internals and Powerful Others were related with health protective behaviors. If one believes he can do something about his health and others play a significant role on his health, he is more apt protective patterns more suitable for health and actually shows that he is better off.