TITLE:
Psychosocial Correlates of the Short-Form-36 Multidimensional Health Survey in University Students
AUTHORS:
M. Scott DeBerard, Kevin S. Masters
KEYWORDS:
Health-Related Quality of Life, Psychosocial Correlates
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.8,
June
19,
2014
ABSTRACT: Stress,
social support, and coping correlates of the Short-Form 36 Health Survey
(SF-36) were examined in 307 undergraduate students. Instruments included the
SF-36, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived
Social Support, and the Ways of Coping Inventory-Revised. HRQOL appeared worse
and reported stress and use of maladaptive coping strategies were higher than
age-appropriate national norms. Stress, social-support, and coping strategies
were correlated with SF-36 physical and mental health subscales. In a stepwise
multiple regression equation predicting the SF-36 Mental Health Composite
Scale, stress, escape-avoidance coping, problem-focused coping, and
accepting-responsibility coping emerged as significant predictors. In another
stepwise multiple regression equation predicting the SF-36 Physical Composite
Scale, self-control coping and family support emerged as significant
predictors. Results suggest that psychosocial measures are excellent predictors
of mental HRQOL but are not as strong for physical HRQOL. Possible
interventions for improving health status among college students are offered.