| According to Pender's Health Promotion Model (HPM), cognitive-perceptual, modifying, and cues to action factors are theorized to predict health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Cognitive-perceptual factors are hypothesized to be more highly predictive of engaging in health-promoting lifestyle behaviors through their direct influence. The modifying factors and cues to action factors contribute weaker influences on health-promoting lifestyle behaviors.;The purpose of this descriptive study was to analyze the HPM in a sample population of 299 African-American university students.;The cognitive-perceptual factors were operationalized as self-efficacy beliefs, health value beliefs, health status, health conceptualization, and health locus of control beliefs. Modifying factors included age, gender, family income level during the past year, academic major, academic classification, residence, and social membership. The presence of a chronic disease or disability was conceptualized as cue to action factor.;The basic patterns of health-promoting lifestyle behaviors found in this study were consistent with previous research. In a two-step hierarchical multiple regression analyses, cognitive-perceptual factors exerted a more direct influence in explaining engagement in health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. A total of 34% of the shared variability in health-promoting lifestyle behaviors was explained by the set of cognitive-perceptual variables which were entered at Step 1. Self-efficacy beliefs emerged as the greatest predictor for explaining health-promoting lifestyle behaviors.;Tenets of the HPM have been supported in studies of well, ill, and disabled sample groups, but have not been adequately tested among racial or ethnic minority populations. Thus, there is no data that suggests that the factors identified in the HPM would be different among racial or ethnic minority populations.;Findings from this study may have implications for health-behavior researchers in the fields of psychology, nursing, education, sociology, and medicine. Student health and student-health education services may benefit from the results by having a basis from which to plan and implement culturally relevant health interventions. |
