Psychological predictors of health behaviour among college students

Pages: 859-865
A. Suresh and Akancha Srivastava (Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR-DRDO), Delhi)
Malar Jayachander (Counselling Psychologist St. Stephen`s College, Delhi)

In the recent years the core element of health behaviour has changed from disease prevention to health protection and promotion. Health behaviour change has become a central objective of public health and its policies. Under these circumstances personal and social factors have become imperative issues in determining health behaviour of an individual. The present study investigated the relationship between social support, health locus of control and health status in relation to health behaviour among college students. The study also explores the psychological predictors of health behaviour among college students. This study was cross- sectional in design and used survey methodology. The convenience sample consisted of 330 college students from different colleges at Chennai city. Subjects were administered the Multidimensional health locus of control scale, Sense of support scale, General Health Questionnaire and Health behaviour scale. The collected data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The results indicated that Sense of support and health locus of control as significant predictors of health behaviour. The study implies that Psycho social factors associated with health behaviour need to be considered in health promotion interventions.