Effect of protective factors on healthy lifestyles in patients with cardiovascular risk: Path analysis

The aim of this study was to verify the influence of individual factors such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, and protective factors like resilience, generalized self-efficacy, and social support perceived on healthy lifestyles in people with cardiovascular risk in addition to their possible interactions. We used a sample of 290 people, consisting of 140 men and 150 women, aged between 35 and 65 years. Through path analysis, we found that the most predictive variables on the healthy lifestyle were perceived social support, specifically friends’ and resilience. We also found that self-efficacy significantly influences resilience, and perceived social support is a significant predictor of the former. In conclusion, the psychological content variables can predict a healthy lifestyle, directly and indirectly. It can also be differentiated depending on the specific dimension of the predicted variable and the number of variables that relate jointly.