The relationship of internal/external control and health value to serum cholesterol levels in a sample of hospital employees

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of selected demographic and psychological variables with serum cholesterol. The selected independent variables were health locus of control, health value, age, and education, and self-perception of health status.

The data were collected at Holston Valley Hospital and Medical Center, Kingsport, Tennessee. A sample of 150 employees was selected from a group of 701 employees who voluntarily presented themselves for a free serum cholesterol screening on May 19, 1987. Questionnaire packets were distributed through interdepartmental mail to these 150 individuals. A total of 84 subjects responded to the questionnaire packet and were the sample of this study.

Instruments included the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, Form A (Wallston, Wallston, & DeVellis), the Health Value Survey (Wallston, personal communication, March, 1987), and a demographic data form prepared for this study. These questionnaires were completed at the convenience of the respondent and returned via interdepartmental mail.

Statistical analyses of the research question and subsidiary questions included measures of central tendency, multiple linear regression, and ANOVA procedures. Correlation among all the variables were tested using Pearson's Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation.

Health Locus of Control was not found to be a useful predictor of serum cholesterol. Only two of the variables selected for inclusion in the multiple regression analyses proved to be significant: age and health value. The model predicted only 22% of the variance, leaving considerable unexplained variation.