A Study on the Relationship between Perceived Health State, Personality, Situational Barrier, Health Promoting Behavior in Students

Kim, Myoung Sook

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived health state, personality, situational barrier, health promoting behavior, to provide the basic data for health promoting intervention. METHOD: This study was designed as a descriptive correlation study. Data were 396 undergraduate students of one university in Chung-Buk. The instruments for this study were the modified health promoting behavior scale developed by Bak, Insuk(1995), and the modified perceived health state scale developed by Im, Meeyoung (1998), the modified personality scale developed by Park, Youngbae(1998), the modified situational barrier scale developed by Im, Meeyoung(1998). RESULT: The results of this study showed that the mean score for perceived health state 2.72, personality 3.35, situational barrier 2.72 and health promoting behavior 2.67. The health promoting behavior categories, scores for 'sanitary life'(3.08), 'self-actualization and interrelationship'(2.93) were higher than the mean score, whereas scores for 'healthy diet'(2.64), 'rest and sleep'(2.62), 'exercise and stress management'(2.49), and 'diet management' (2.25) were lower than the mean score. This study revealed the negative correlation between perceived health state, personality, situational barrier and health promoting behavior in undergraduate students. CONCLUSION: Perceived health state accounted for 16% and personality accounted for 21.3% of the variance in health promoting behavior in students. Therefore, health promoting programs that increase health state and personality should be developed to promote health behavior and to diminish situational barrier for students in Korea.