title: Control constructs: Do they mediate the relation between educational attainment and health behaviour?
abstract: Health promoting behaviours seem to be more prevalent among people with higher socio-economic status (SES). The main purpose of this article was to study (a) the relationship between education (as a dimension of SES) and intention and health behaviour (fruit/vegetable consumption), (b) the relationship between education and control conceptualizations (health locus of control (HLC), response-efficacy and self-efficacy) and (c) to what extent the relationship between education and intention/health behaviour (fruit/vegetable consumption) was mediated through different control beliefs. The results showed that women with higher education had higher intentions to consume fruit/vegetables and consumed fruit/vegetables more frequently. Higher education was associated with higher self-efficacy and response-efficacy beliefs and less belief in HLC-chance. These control beliefs partly mediated the education-intention/behaviour relationship.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway. anette.leganger@psych.uib.no
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leganger
authors.forename: Pål
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kraft
mesh_terms: D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014675:Vegetables