Psychosocial measures and cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents

The objective of this study was to test four psychosocial measures (self-concept, locus of control, goal blockage, A-B Rating Scale) which are hypothesized to be correlates of cardiovascular risk factor variables in children and adolescents. The psychosocial questionnaire was administered to all eighth grade students in a biracial public school. The results, based on replies from 103 boys and girls, are reported for each measure, and, in addition, reliability correlation coefficients (six week test-retest) and intrachild correlation coefficients are reported for each of the four measures. It is concluded that the four psychosocial measures are suitable for future research and could be employed in association with risk factor studies. Finally, a theoretical model for psychosocially mediated disease is presented.