Association of health self-empowerment with health-promoting behaviors among chronically ill African American and non- Hispanic White adolescents.

Objective: Health Self-Empowerment Theory (health motivation, health self-efficacy, health self-praise, and active coping) was examined as a predictor of levels of engagement in four health-promoting behaviors (health responsibility behaviors, regular exercise, healthy eating, and stress management behaviors) among low-income African American adolescents and non-Hispanic White American adolescents living with at least one chronic illness.

Methods: Eighty-seven participants completed measures of the Health Self-Empowerment Theory variables and of level of engagement in each of the four health-promoting behaviors.

Results: Regression analyses revealed that the combined Health Self-Empowerment Theory variables significantly predicted level of engagement in the four examined health-promoting behaviors.

Predictors of a health-promoting lifestyle and behaviors among low-income African American mothers and white mothers of chronically ill children.

This study used Health Self-Empowerment (HSE) Theory as a framework for examining the predictors of engagement in both a health-promoting lifestyle and individual health-promoting behaviors among low-income African American mothers and non-Hispanic white mothers (N = 96), each of whom is the primary caregiver for a chronically ill adolescent. The individual health-promoting behaviors investigated are eating a healthy diet, exercising consistently, stress management practices, and health responsibility behaviors. The examined HSE Theory-based predictor variables were health self-efficacy, active coping, health motivation, and health self-praise.