Critical thinking, perceived health status, and participation in health behaviors

Background: Critical thinking has been proposed as crucial for processing conflicting information when people make decisions about participation in health behaviors. The critical thinking of individuals about participation in health behaviors may depend on their perceived health status. Objectives: To examine the relations between critical thinking and participation in three categories of health behaviors, and to determine whether these relations are moderated by perceived health status. Methods: A cross-sectional, correlational design was used to study a sample of 112 community-dwelling adults who resided in a large, urban Midwest community. The participants were women and men 18 to 90 years of age (mean, 55 +/- 20.47 years) who completed self-report, written questionnaires including the Test of Everyday Reasoning and the Health Practices Instrument. Results: According to hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the relation between critical thinking and health promotion behaviors and the relation between critical thinking and secondary prevention behaviors were moderated by perceived health status, whereas the relation between critical thinking and health protection behaviors was not. Conclusions: The relation between critical thinking and participation in health behaviors depends on perceived health status and category of health behaviors. Researchers can explore the role of other variables (e.g., functional status and perceived susceptibility to disease) to explain why perceived health status moderates the relations between critical thinking and participation in various types of health behaviors differently.