"iDoctor – Medical Blog"

American Journal of Health Behavior 34(3): 349-361 Objectives: To examine whether people who expect to live longer engage in healthier behaviors relative to people who expect to live shorter lives. Methods: Patients (994 black Americans, 373 white Americans) from a publicly funded clinic estimated their expected survival age and reported their health behaviors (alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; sexual behaviors; physical activity; and sleep). Results: Subjective life expectancy (SLE) was a significant predictor of health behavior for both men and women. Race moderated the SLE-health behavior relation but only for alcohol and tobacco use. Conclusions: Future research should explore the potential health benefits of shifting SLE from a more limited to an expansive perspective.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 3:14 am and is filed under Health news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.