Spousal positive social control and men’s health behaviors and self-efficacy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spousal positive social control (SPSC) and men’s health behaviors. This study also tested the mediating effect of health self-efficacy in this relationship and the moderating effects of age and relationship satisfaction (RS) in the association between SPSC and health behaviors and self-efficacy. A total of 506 unionized male workers answered a questionnaire assessing their level of health self-efficacy, how often they performed various health behaviors, and their perceptions of the frequency with which their spouse used positive social control to influence their health. Results indicated that SPSC was positively associated with health behaviors and that this association was mediated by health self-efficacy. Moderation analysis indicated that, for middle-aged and older men, SPSC was only positively associated with health self-efficacy when RS was high. Also, for older men only, when RS was low, SPSC had a backfiring effect and was negatively associated with health self-efficacy. Finally, results indicated the presence of a moderated mediation with the indirect effect of SPSC on health behaviors through health self-efficacy being moderated by age and relationship satisfaction. By indicating more precisely how, with whom, and under what circumstances SPSC can be beneficial or not, the results from this study have important implications for interventions promoting men’s health.

Association between good work ability and health behaviours among unemployed: A cross-sectional survey

“…According to van der Meer (2014), being single was strongly connected to a decrease in health and well-being among unemployed people. De Montigny et al (2017) showed that spouses' positive social control had a favourable influence on men's health behaviours. In our study, marital status as living in a partnership, whether it be married or cohabiting, had a significant association with good work ability.…”

Inter‐relations among negative social control, self‐efficacy, and physical activity in healthy couples

“…To clarify these inconsistent effects, Okun, Huff, August, and Rook () proposed differentiating between positive control (e.g., reminders and positive reinforcement) and negative control (e.g., pressure, rebuking or inducing guilt). With this differentiation in place and likely due to its behaviour‐supportive functions, positive control was quite consistently related to better health behaviour in recipients (de Montigny et al ., ; Okun et al ., ); in contrast, negative control showed no or detrimental effects on health behaviour change (Lewis & Butterfield, ; Logic, Okun, & Pugliese, ; Newsom, Shaw, August, & Strath, ). As mediators of the latter association, reactance and negative affect were investigated (Logic et al ., ; Newsom et al ., ).…”

Influence of a Wife’s Education on Her Partner’s Health Status: Evidence from Married Couples in Indonesia

“…As suggested by previous studies [8,23], this study uses educational assortative mating as a control variable. Unfortunately, statistically significant variables only show that the husband will be less likely to experience severe illness when having an equally educated partner at the secondary school level, compared with couples who have different levels of education (non-educational assortative mating).…”

“…This study includes other control variables in the model. To evaluate the possible association between assortative mating and husband's health status as recommend by several studies [8,23]…”

“…Traditionally, a wife will be more responsible for household management than her husband, especially in the family lifestyle habits such as food consumption habits [3]. De Montigny et al [8] found that wives might be able to influence her husband to modify his health-consciousness and related behavior. Therefore, a wife's education may provide a significant influence on her partner's health status in the household.…”