Personality ; Health status ; Health behavior ; Middle aged ; Women
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of type D personality on health status and health promoting behaviors in middle-aged women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was used with 220 middle aged women. All participants completed 3 measuring tools: a 14-item Type D Personality Scale, a 12-item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire version 2, and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-version II. All were completed in November 2010. RESULTS: The prevalence of type D personality was 34.5%. Type D women had significantly lower physical (p=.020) and mental health status (p<.001) compared with non-type D women. In addition Type D women reported significantly poorer performance of health responsibility (p=.015), physical activity (p=.001), nutrition (p=.027), spiritual growth (p<.001), interpersonal relations (p<.001) and stress management (p<.001) techniques in health behaviors than non-type D women. CONCLUSION: Type D personality is a vulnerability factor that affects health status and is associated with poor health promoting behaviors in middle aged women. Therefore, screening for Type D personality is important to detect women at risk for health status and quality of life in community settings in Korea.