Study on the Effects of Sasang Psychobiological Factors on General Health Status

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between general health condition and biopsychological traits of Sasang typology which determines the disease susceptibility and treatment responses. We had Korean Constitutional Multicenter Bank (KCMB) listed 1156 participants for measuring Sasang Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and Body Mass Index (BMI) for biopsychological traits of each Sasang types as well as Short Form 12 (SF12) for general health status. All the analysis was performed with consideration of gender and age. We analyzed the differences in general health status between Sasang types and the correlation between general health status and biopsychological traits of Sasang typology. We also analyzed how much the selected SF12 subscales can be explained with biopsychosocial characteristics. There were no generaliszable differences among Sasang type groups in SF12, no significant correlation between biopsychological traits and SF12 Physical and Mental Component Summary. We found that there were significant correlations between SPQ-Behavior subscale and SF12 Vitality, and the regression model with SPQ-Behavior, SPQ-Emotionality, age and sex can predict 15.4% of the total variances in SF12 Vitality. We discussed the possibility that the Sasang typology is not a determinant of general health status but a moderator for the susceptibility and response. This study would contribute to the development of Sasang type-specific life nurturing program focusing on the psychological perspectives.