Do Decision-Making Styles Help Explain Health-Risk Behavior among University Students in Addition to Personality Factors?

Abstract Background: With the advancements in knowledge about health promotion, public health professionals have been seeking determinants of personal health behaviors. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of health risk behaviors and its associated factors in a sample of Kyrgyz university students. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, health risk behaviors among a sample of randomly selected university students were assessed. The sample included 837 university students from health sciences undergraduate courses of the State Medical Academy in Kyrgyzstan. The students were 358 (42.8%) males and 479 (57.2%) females in the age range of 18–29 years (Median age=21.3 years, SD=1.5). Results: On average, students engaged in 9.4 (SD=2.3) out of 23 health risk behavior practices (range, 3–18). Generally, there was a high rate of insufficient fruit and vegetable intake (86.4%), eating red meat at least once a day (62%), usually adding salt to meals (78.3%), skipping breakfast (50.5%), current tobacco use (49.7%) and two or more sexual partners in the past 12 months (46.1%) among men, and never using a condom with a primary partner in the past 3 months (90.9%) among women. Furthermore, 60.8% of the women were physically inactive. In bivariate analysis among men, the lack of perceived benefits was associated with health risk behavior. In multivariate analysis among women, poorer family background, being Russian, high personal constraints or stress, and better subjective health were associated with the health risk behavior index. Conclusions: Students had a high proportion of health risk behavior practices. Several high health risk practices were identified, including poor dietary behavior, physical inactivity, sexual risk behavior, and tobacco use. Gender specific predictors identified included sociodemographic characteristics and social and health variables, which can be utilized in health promotion programs.

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Characteristics of will as predictors of risk inclination of military university students in the process of professional military socialization

Izvestiya of Saratov University New Series Series Educational Acmeology Developmental Psychology ◽

10.18500/2304-9790-2021-10-2-139-149 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 139-149

Author(s):

Denis A. Meshcheryakov ◽

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

University Students ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

Military Personnel ◽

National Guard ◽

Personality Factors ◽

Rational Behavior ◽

Military Socialization

One of the important and relevant problems of social psychology is the study of the role of will characteristics as important regulators of risk behavior. It is especially interesting to investigate it in such a specific social group as military personnel, whose activities are associated with risk both directly and indirectly. In view of this, the purpose of the research presented in the article is to study changes in volitional determination of risk and rational behavior of the military university students in the process of professional military socialization. As a hypothesis, we suggest that different volitional characteristics mainly determine risk behavior and behavior associated with rationality. The research involves 182 military students (aged M = 20.5; SD = 1.6) of Saratov Military Institute of the National Guard of the Russian Federation. We used the following techniques to analyze changes in volitional determination of rational and risk behavior: the technique for diagnosing the manifestation of volitional personality traits “Volitional personality traits” (M. V. Chumakov); “Risk-taking” questionnaire (A. M. Schubert); the technique for diagnosing two personality traits – readiness for risk and rationality – as psychological variables reflecting the characteristics of personal regulation of the subject’s choices (such as decision-making) in the broad context of life situations “Personality factors of decision making” (T. V. Kornilova). We revealed the complication of the volitional determination of rational and risk behavior in the process of professional military socialization; we also found major volitional personality traits, that are predictors of readiness for risk and rationality. It is shown that 8% of variations in rational behavior are due to purposefulness and initiative, and 8% of variations in risk behavior are due to persistence. The study of the identified parameters can help in determining the inclination to risk and rationality of military personnel, their influence on behavior in the course of performing service and combat missions and, consequently, on their more effective and high-quality performance.

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Trait Mindfulness Helps Shield Decision-Making From Translating Into Health-Risk Behavior

Journal of Adolescent Health ◽

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.03.011 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 51 (6) ◽

pp. 588-592 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

David S. Black ◽

Steve Sussman ◽

C. Anderson Johnson ◽

Joel Milam

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Health Risk ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

Health Risk Behavior ◽

Trait Mindfulness

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A diary study of social anxiety, interpersonal interactions and health risk behavior in college students

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e527772014-805 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Kristina Wilson

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Social Anxiety ◽

Health Risk ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

Health Risk Behavior ◽

Diary Study ◽

Interpersonal Interactions

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Financial hardship and health risk behavior during COVID-19 in a large US national sample of women

SSM - Population Health ◽

10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100734 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 100734

Author(s):

Laura Sampson ◽

Catherine K. Ettman ◽

Salma M. Abdalla ◽

Elizabeth Colyer ◽

Kimberly Dukes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Risk ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

National Sample ◽

Financial Hardship ◽

Health Risk Behavior

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Clustering effects of health risk behavior on mental health and physical activity in Chinese adolescents

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes ◽

10.1186/s12955-020-01468-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiangren Yi ◽

Zongyu Liu ◽

Wenzhen Qiao ◽

Xiuye Xie ◽

Nuo Yi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Health Risk ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

Chinese Adolescents ◽

Health Risk Behavior

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Are Decision-Making Styles, Locus of Control, and Average Grades in Exams Correlated with Procrastination in University Students?

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11060300 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 300

Author(s):

Elisabetta Sagone ◽

Maria Luisa Indiana

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Locus Of Control ◽

University Students ◽

Multiple Linear Regression Model ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Decision Making Styles ◽

Decisional Procrastination ◽

Behavior Scale ◽

The University ◽

Delay Decision

In this paper decision-making styles, locus of control, and average grades in exams are examined as correlates of procrastination in a sample of 185 university students (mainly female students) recruited from mandatory courses for degrees in psychology and pedagogy at the University of Catania (Italy). Method: We used the Decisional Procrastination Scale (Ferrari, Johnson, & McCown, 1995), consisting of five Likert-type items useful for analyzing the procrastination; the Decision-Making Styles (Di Nuovo & Magnano, 2013), chosen for measuring the doubtfulness, delay, proxy, and no problem styles with 15 Likert-type items; the Locus of Control of Behavior Scale (Craig, Franklin, & Andrews, 1984) used to evaluate internal and external loci of control. The data were gathered through an online anonymous questionnaire and were analyzed using the multiple linear regression model to assess how styles of decision-making, locus of control, and average grades in exams affect the decision to procrastinate in university students. The main findings of this study indicate that doubtfulness and delay decision-making styles correlate with high decisional procrastination together with low average grades at university exams. Locus of control is excluded by the proposed model. Conclusions: These findings suggest pursuing a deeper investigation of the various types of procrastination and the measures used for analyzing the academic achievement in university students.

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