Some Correlates of Children's Health Beliefs and Potential Health Behavior

Abstract

Predictions that perceived vulnerability to health problems is (1) inversely related to potential health behavior in persons with high degrees of perceived internal control, (2) directly related to potential health behavior in persons with low perceived internal control, and (3) inversely related to perceived internal control in persons for whom health is salient, were all confirmed by a study of 108 children, aged 7 to 18, conducted at a summer camp. The results highlight the importance of an interplay of factors in determining health-related behavior, and are consistent with the health-belief model. THE salience of health, perceptions of vulnerability to health problems, and perceptions of internal control over environmental events form a set of related elements whose implications for potential health behavior are the focus of this study. The obstacles encountered by health professionals and social scientists who attempt to shape or modify specific health behaviors attest to the importance of increasing understanding of developmental aspects of health-relevant behavior. Although most behavioral and psychological studies of health behavior have attempted to influence specific behavioral acts (e.g., smoking reduction, presymptomatic screening, dieting) through systematic variation of the content and format of messages or the underlying motivational state of the target, this study will, in contrast, explore health-relevant behavior as it exists naturally, without experimental manipulation. The salience of health. Confronted with a direct question about the value he attaches to health, the average person is likely to reply that he considers health to be very important, and that good health