The goal of this study was to investigate the factors influencing health promoting behaviors in elderly individuals according to types of residency.

This was a descriptive study. The subjects were comprised of 243 elderly aged 65 years or over living in 3 large cities. The instruments used for this study were a health promoting lifestyle, perceived health status, geriatric depression short form scale-Korea, social support scale, and self-efficacy. The data was analyzed using SPSS Win 12.0.

Powerful predictors of a health promoting lifestyle were depression, self-efficacy, and perceived health status for the elderly living at home. In the cases of the elderly living in institutions, a powerful predictor of a health promoting lifestyle was identified as social support.

For the operation of long-term care insurance, a service for home care programs is needed for the elderly living at home in order to reduce depression and to increase self-efficacy and perceived health status. In addition, social support provided by health-care professionals should be developed to promote a healthy lifestyle for the elderly living in institutional environments.