Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among middle-aged women. Health-promoting behavior is essential to the prevention of CVD. During middle adulthood, women experience biopsychosocial changes that may reduce personal satisfaction and affect health-promoting behavior and CVD risk. Objective: This study aimed to examine the impact of personal satisfaction on health-promoting behavior and CVD risk in middle-aged Arab American women. Methods: A convenience sample of 114 middle-aged Arab American women was recruited from2 clinical sites in Michigan in theUnited States. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and a single item assessing health satisfaction. Risk for CVD was calculated using the 10-year atherosclerotic CVD Risk Estimator. Results: Health-promoting behavior was significantly correlated with self-satisfaction (r = 0.54, P <.0001), health satisfaction (r = 0.45, P <.0001), and life satisfaction (r = 0.41, P <.0001). Risk for CVD was significantly negatively correlated with self-satisfaction (r = -0.17, P =.039), health satisfaction (r = -0.18, P =.029), and life satisfaction (r = -0.27, P =.002). Self-satisfaction and health satisfaction accounted for 32% of the variance in health-promoting behavior (F = 7.568, P <.0001). Age and life satisfaction accounted for 50% of the variance in CVD risk score (F = 58.28, P <.0001). Conclusions: Personal satisfaction was associated with health-promoting behavior and CVD risk. Future research would benefit from the inclusion of longitudinal data and comparative groups.