Df. Hurst et al., THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELF-ESTEEM TO THE HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIORS OF THE PATIENTS OF A PRIMARY-CARE CLINIC, Archives of family medicine, 6(1), 1997, pp. 67-70
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.