Predicting health-promoting lifestyles in the workplace.

A multivariate model proposed as explanatory and predictive of health-promoting lifestyles was evaluated in a sample of 589 employees enrolled in six employer-sponsored health-promotion programs. Perceived personal competence, definition of health, perceived health status, and perceived control of health accounted for 31% of the variance in health-promoting lifestyle patterns. Employees who reported more health-promoting lifestyles perceived themselves as competent in handling life situations, defined health as high-level wellness rather than merely the absence of illness, evaluated their health positively, and perceived their health as affected by significant others but not by chance or luck. Those who were female, older, and in the maintenance phase of the company fitness program also had healthier lifestyle patterns. These variables and the perception of health as internally controlled were predictive of health-promoting lifestyles three months later.