PURPOSE: The purpose was to investigate the physiological parameters and health perception of adults in Kyungi province area, and the correlation between these variables. The subjects were 95 adults who participated voluntarily in the health examination program.
Methods
The instruments for this study were physiological parameters, which were composed of blood pressure, blood sugar, and body fat. The health perception scale developed by Ware (1976), and the health practice performance scale developed by Chang et al. (1999). Results: The average blood pressure was 137/85mmHg, the average blood sugar was 108.56mg/dl, and the average body fat arm sunt was 27.08% in males, and 30.07% in females. There were significant negative correlation between health perception and blood sugar (r=-2.36, p=.01), and body fat (r= -2.77, p=.001). There were significant positive correlations between blood pressure and health behavior (r=2.76, p=.001). However a significant correlation between health perception and health behavior was not found. Of the sociodemographic characteristics, sex (F=5.42, p=.01), and marital status (F=3.29, p=.04) were related to blood pressure. Also sex (F=4.17, p=.04) was related to body fat, and sex (t=4.04, p=.03) was related to health perception and disease status (t=4.33, p=.040). Thus having a relationship with health behavior.
CONCLUSION
It is suggested that health perception provide important information about health status. However, this study has not shown a correlation between health perception and health behavior. Therefore further research is needed to find the other variables related to health behavior.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing health perception in the elderly, to provide the basic data for health behavior program and nursing intervention. The subjects of this study were 240 elderly person over the age 60, living in Seoul and Kangnung. They were conveniently sampled for this study and the data was collected from June 1999 to September 1999. The instruments for this study were the Health Perception Questionaire developed by Ware(1979), the OARS Functional Assessment Questionaire (Duke University 1978), and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control by Wallston, Wallston, and De Vills(1978). The data were analyzed by using SPSS Win computer Program. The results are as follows; 1. The total mean score of the health perception was 52.02(S.D=+/-7.07) in a range of 33 to 69, and the mean score of the functional status was 27.02 (SD=+/-2.75) in a range of zero to 28 and the mean score of the health locus of control was 65.66(S.D=+/-8.68) in a range of 43 to 90. And The mean scores on the HLOC subscales were HLOC-I: 23.73+/-4.56 (range: 6-30), HLOC-P: 23.07+/-4.74 (range: 6-30), HLOC-C: 18.55+/-4.03 (range: 11-30). 2. There was a significant positive correlation between health perception and functional status(r=.216, p=.001), and health perception and the health locus of control(HLOC) were not correlated at the level of statistical significance. However, the HLOC-I and health perception were correlated positively(r=.328, p=.000), and the HLOC-P were correlated negatively (r=-.129, p=.046). 3. There was a significant difference statistically in the degree of health perception according to the age(F=3.351, p=.002), spouse(t=2.232, p=.021), education level(F=7.373, p=.001), disease(t=3.639, p=.000), group activity (t=2.458, p=.015). drink(t=2.327, p=.021). 4. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the most powerful predictor of health perception was internal health locus of control. A combination of HOLC-I, functional status, HLOC-P, group activity explained 17.9% of the variance for health perception in the elderly. In conclusion, the results of this study show that internal health locus of control factor is very important in explaining the health perception for the elderly. Therefore, it will be considered internal health locus of control factor in nursing intervention and program in order to enforce the health behavior for elderly people.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of loneliness on drinking, smoking, and health perception(symptom pattern & subjective health) in college students. The convenience sample consisted of 417 college students attending four universities. The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale(RULS) and the Symptom Pattern Scale were used to collect the data. In this study, 84.7% of the subjects used alcohol, with a mean of 5.52 drinks per week, and 32.9% of the subjects smoked for a mean of 5.08 cigarette packs per week during the previous month. The mean score loneliness measured by the RULS was 40.82, indicating that the subjects were moderately lonely. The majority of the subjects had a low level of symptom pattern and evaluated their health as either very good or good. The level of alcohol drinking and the smoking increased and symptom pattern decreased with age. Female students were lonelier than male students in this study. Also, the female students had a lower level of symptom pattern and evaluated their health worse than the male students. Male students consumed more alcohol and smoked more cigarette than female students. Living arrangement was significantly related to the level of loneliness. The subjects who lived with their parents and siblings were less lonely than those who lived with their friends, or relatives or who lived in a dormitory. Age and religion were not related to the level of loneliness. The level of loneliness influenced drinking, symptom pattern, and subjective health. The study found that subjects who were more lonely consumed alcohol less, had a higher level of symptom pattern, and perceived their health worse than those who were less lonely. Smoking was not influenced by loneliness in this study.