Personality Variables as Predictors of Health Services Consumption

Antonio Taboada-Vázquez, Ruben Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Manuel Gandoy-Crego and Miguel Clemente
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Antonio Taboada-Vázquez: Department of Psychology, Universidade da Coruna, 15071 A Coruna, Spain
Ruben Gonzalez-Rodriguez: Department of Social Work, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Manuel Gandoy-Crego: Department of Psychiatry, Radiology and Public Health, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 15890 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Miguel Clemente: Department of Psychology, Universidade da Coruna, 15071 A Coruna, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-8

Abstract: Expenditure on healthcare and services can be a serious problem for public health. Personality variables should be included as indicators to be considered when studying the consumption of health resources and their planning. This study aims to identify the psychological and psychosocial variables that identify people who can be considered high consumers of health resources versus those who barely consume such resources. The sample was made up of a total of 1124 subjects; one half were men, and one half were women, all of legal age and residents in Spain. A battery of tests was created that included a questionnaire of sociodemographic variables and of healthcare consumption, as well as several psychological variables (Zimbardo Time Paradox Inventory, Multidimensional Locus of Control Scale, Psychological Reactance Scale, Coping Responses Inventory, self-efficacy scale applied to health, and the Symptom Checklist-90-R). The following variables of the model were significant predictors ( p ? 0.05): a negative past, a fatalistic present, psychological cognitive reactance, behavioral coping, health self-efficacy, and the level of somatization. Data from the statistical analyses show how to create a psychological profile of people who are high consumers of healthcare resources that will allow for the creation of intervention programs in this regard.

Keywords: environment and public health; health services; personality; personal health services; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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