A purposeful lifestyle is a healthful lifestyle: Linking sense of purpose to self-rated health through multiple health behaviors

Abstract

Having a purpose in life has been consistently linked to subjective and objective health markers. Using data from the Hawaii Study of Personality and Health (<i>n</i> = 749, <i>M_age</i> = 60.1 years), we tested multiple health behaviors as unique mediators of the correlation between sense of purpose and self-rated health (<i>r</i> = .29). Correlational analyses found that participants' sense of purpose was positively associated with their reports of vigorous and moderate activity, vegetable intake, flossing, and sleep quality. Combined in a multiple-mediator model, bootstrapping analyses suggested that sleep quality and vigorous activity proved significant unique mediators.