The relationship of self-esteem to the health-related behaviors of the patients of a primary care clinic
D. F. Hurst, D. L. Boswell, S. E. Boogaard and M. W. Watson
Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
To clarify the relationship of self-esteem and health-related behaviors of
primary care clinic patients, 500 family practice residency patients were
invited to complete self-esteem and health-risk appraisal instruments. Of
the final subject pool (N = 469), 154 responded to the single-mailing
solicitation, thereby yielding a 32.8% response rate. Correlational
analysis found self-esteem to be associated with predicted longevity, life
satisfaction, social ties, overall health, personal loss, seatbelt use,
age, physical activity, smoking, exposure to violence, and substance use.
Multiple regression analysis of male subjects' data found self-esteem most
closely related to the frequency of exposure to danger, self-perceptions of
health, and tobacco use. Similar analysis of the women's data most closely
associated self-esteem to perceived social support, self-perception of
health, diastolic blood pressure, and seatbelt use. The data clearly link
individuals' self-esteem to predicted longevity. Those with greater
self-regard were predicted to live longer, while those with poorer
self-esteem achieved shorter predicted longevity. Contributing factors may
have included greater emphasis on self-care.
