Health locus of control and value for health as predictors of dietary behaviour

Measures of health locus of control, value for health and frequency of consumption of a variety of food items were measured in a representative population of 13,045 respondents. Consumption of healthier foods was greatest amongst respondents with higher internal locus of control and value for health scores, while consumption of less healthy food items was higher amongst those with low value for health and high chance locus of control scores. Interactions between health locus of control dimensions and value for health added little to the variance of frequency of food consumption explained. The implications of these results for explanatory models of dietary behaviour and for future research are discussed