Wybrane czynniki psychospołeczne a zachowania zdrowotne młodzieży licealnej. Część III. Poczucie umiejscowienia kontroli zdrowia a prezentowane zachowania profilaktyczne.
Locus of Health Control and Observed Prophylactic Behaviors in Secondary School Students. Initial Study

Summary/Abstract: Introduction. Personal health locus control is related to health behavior presented by adult people. Persons with the internal health locus control, take greater responsibility for maintaining and improving their own health in comparison with people with the external health locus control pattern. It is anticipated that the internal health locus control might influence older adolescents to perform pro- health behaviors as well. Goal. To verify if there is a correlation between the health locus control and selected preventive behavior patterns presented by high school students. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in a group of 1036 students (688 girls and 348 boys) aged 16– 19 years. The Multidimensional Health Locus Control Scale (MHLC) and the Health Behavior Inventory (Preventive Behaviors) were used. Results. In the study group, the mean value of the internal health locus control (24.51 points) was higher than two others: 18.18 points for the influence of other people and 17.94 points for the impact of the event. The influence of other people was stronger among 16 year old (18.61 points) than in older student groups. In the group of 17- year- old students the importance of internal control (26.69 points) was the strongest. Concerning presented preventive behavior patterns the studied group of adolescents received an average score of 18.36 points; the value for women (18.62 points) was statistically higher than for men (17.85 points), p = 0.023. The linear regression analysis proved a significant correlation between student preventive behaviors and the internal health locus control (p = 0.0000, r2 = 0.20), as well as with the influence of other people (p = 0.0000; r2 = 0.26). Conclusions. (1) In high school students the internal health locus control and the influence of others (especially among 16- year- olds) are correlated with health behaviors presented by young people. (2) These results indicate a need for targeted interventions aiming to increase the internal health locus control in assuming the increasing responsibility of high school students for their own health behavior.

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