title: Applying Health Locus of Control and Latent Class Modelling to food and physical activity choices affecting CVD risk.
abstract: Health Locus of Control (HLC) classifies our beliefs about the connection between our actions and health outcomes (Skinner, 1996) into three categories: "internal control", corresponding to health being the result of an individual's effort and habits; "control by powerful others", whereby health depends on others, such as doctors; and "chance control", according to which health depends on fate and chance. Using Choice Experiments we investigate the relationship between HLC and willingness to change lifestyle, in terms of eating habits, physical activity and associated cardiovascular disease risk, in a 384 person sample representative of the 40-65 aged population of Northern Ireland administered between February and July 2011. Using latent class analysis we identify three discrete classes of people based on their HLC: the first class is sceptical about their capacity to control their health and certain unhealthy habits. Despite being unsatisfied with their situation, they are reluctant to accept behaviour changes. The second is a group of individuals unhappy with their current situation but willing to change through exercise and diet. Finally, a group of healthy optimists is identified, who are satisfied with their current situation but happy to take more physical activity and improve their diet. Our findings show that any policy designed to modify people's health related behaviour should consider the needs of this sceptical class which represents a considerable proportion of the population in the region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Economics Analysis, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Universitario de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; International Business School Suzhou (IBSS), Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 111, Ren'ai Rd, Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province 215123, PR China. Electronic address: jose.grisolia@ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Grisolía
authors.affiliation: Gibson Institute for Land, Food and Environment, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, NI, UK. Electronic address: a.longo@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.affiliation: Gibson Institute for Land, Food and Environment, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, NI, UK. Electronic address: g.hutchinson@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.affiliation: Queen's School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, NI, UK. Electronic address: f.kee@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Choice experiments; Health Locus of Control; Latent Class Model; Northern Ireland (UK)