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Locus of control and frequency of physician visits: Results of a population‐based longitudinal study in Germany
Author(s) -
Hajek André,
König HansHelmut
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1111/bjhp.12236
Subject(s) - locus of control , psychology , population , longitudinal study , demography , gerontology , clinical psychology , medicine , developmental psychology , environmental health , sociology , pathology
Objectives To examine the role of internal and external locus of control ( LOC ) in the frequency of physician visits longitudinally. Design A nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of German households. Data were used from the years 2005 and 2010. Methods Data were gathered from the German Socio‐Economic Panel ( GSOEP ). The ten internal and external LOC items in the SOEP are based on a scale by Krampen. The number of physician visits in the last 3 months was used as outcome variable. According to Andersen's behavioural model, predisposing characteristics, enabling resources, and need factors were included as control variables. Results Fixed‐effects Poisson regressions showed that physician visits increased with increasing external LOC , whereas changes in internal LOC were not associated with changes in physician visits. Furthermore, physician visits increased with need factors (decreased self‐rated health; onset of disability), whereas predisposing characteristics and the enabling resources were not associated with physician visits. Conclusions Our findings emphasize the meaning of changes in external LOC for physician visits. As there is evidence that interventions can change the LOC , efforts to modify external LOC might be beneficial for the health care system.Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject?A few cross‐sectional studies have investigated the association between locus of control (LOC) and health care use. Longitudinal studies are needed to get a deeper understanding of the causal relationship between these factors.What does this study add?Our longitudinal study provides insights into the impact of general internal and external LOC on physician visits. This is the first study examining the long‐term relation in Germany using a population‐based sample.