Psychological Features Associated with Health in Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Background: The social and human sciences have enormously contributed to the study of health and well being of populations as well as to the risk factors and individual resilience that are associated to them. Thus, it is a general thought that one of the main functions of health professionals is to promote healthy behaviours in people. Aim: To verify if some psychological characteristics (Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, Internal Sense of Coherence) are associated to health(lifestyle, health state, general health perception) in higher education students. Method: The sample was made up by 548 students, men and women, who were attending Nursing School (n= 322) and other graduations without any health studies- Management, Languages, Secretarial and Administration (n=226). The protocol included: Inventory “My Lifestyle” Scale “State of Health”; To measure psychological variables: Sense of Coerence Questionnaire; Self-Esteem Clinical Inventory; Self-Esteem Physical Inventory; and Locus of Control Questionnaire. Results: There is an association, statistically significant between health variables and psychological variables, in the expected sense. Also, the results suggest that the Internal Sense of Coherence factors - understanding(ß= .336) and generalised significance(ß= .294)- are, in interaction with General Health Perception, predictors in a positive and highly significant way, for Health State, specifically in Nursing School Students. Conclusion: We believe this study points to a growing need of a bigger participation of psychologists (along with other health professionals) in the development of programs related to public health. Apart from an involvement in primary health care it will also be important for these professionals to participate in differentiated care.