Predisposition to self-health care: who does what for themselves and why?
Data collected on a national sample of 714 respondents aged 55 years and over were used to investigate predisposition to self-health care. Three different indicators of self-health care were employed in this work, including a measure of actual self-care behavior (ASCB), a behavioral indicator, and two attitudinal indicators, normative self-care response (NSCR) and global self-care. In OLS regression modeling, predisposing characteristics from the health-behavior model yielded levels of variance consistent with those found in the extant literature on health- and social-services utilization among elderly Americans. Age showed limited utility as an explanatory variable; it appeared as a direct effect only on global self-care. Race was the only variable to achieve a statistically significant effect on NSCR, and being female showed direct effects on ASCB and global self-care.
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, University of Toledo, Ohio.
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Engler
D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology