THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELF-ESTEEM TO THE HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIORS OF THE PATIENTS OF A PRIMARY-CARE CLINIC

To clarify the relationship of self-esteem and health-related behavior s of primary care clinic patients, 500 family practice residency patie nts were invited to complete self-esteem and health-risk appraisal ins truments. Of the final subject pool (N=469), 154 responded to the sing le-mailing solicitation, thereby yielding a 32.8% response rate. Corre lational analysis found self-esteem to be associated with predicted lo ngevity, life satisfaction, social ties, overall health, personal loss , seatbelt use, age, physical activity, smoking, exposure to violence, and substance use. Multiple regression analysis of male subjects' dat a found self-esteem most closely related to the frequency of exposure to danger, self-perceptions of health, and tobacco use. Similar analys is of the women's data most closely associated self-esteem to perceive d social support, self-perception of health, diastolic blood pressure, and seatbelt use. The data clearly link individuals' self-esteem to p redicted longevity. Those with greater self-regard were predicted to l ive longer, while those with poorer self-esteem achieved shorter predi cted longevity. Contributing factors may have included greater emphasi s on self-care.