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Cognitive and Value Correlates of Health‐Related Behavior in Brazilian Middle‐class Women
Author(s) -
Paine Patricia,
Pasquali Luiz,
Ribeiro Carlos Augusto Barros
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01717.x
Subject(s) - psychology , harmony (color) , cognition , independence (probability theory) , health behavior , health promotion , developmental psychology , social psychology , demography , gerontology , public health , environmental health , medicine , psychiatry , statistics , sociology , nursing , visual arts , art , mathematics
The prevalence of several health‐related behaviors was studied in a random sample of 294 Brazilian middle‐class women between 25 and 45 years of age. The interrelationships among these behaviors confirmed previous findings in North America and provided the basis for the computation of a composite index of health behavior. The sociodemographic, cognitive, and value correlates of scores on the Health Behavior Index (HBI) were investigated using regression analysis. Women who behave in favor of good health were mothers of more children, had a definition of health as higher level functioning and self‐realization, believed that care outweighs chance as a determinant of health, and valued inner harmony as opposed to comfort and independence. These findings verified most aspects of Pender's health promotion model (Pender, Walker, Sechrist, & Stromberg, 1990).