To what extent do dispositional factors and/or health beliefs affect health?

Refer to the paper 2 assessment criteria when awarding marks. These can be found under the “Your tests” tab > supplemental materials.

The command term “to what extent” requires candidates to consider the influence that dispositional factors and/or health beliefs have on health.

The topics related to health are likely to come from one of the following (from the psychology guide):

• stress
• obesity
• addiction
• chronic pain
• sexual health.

Relevant research may include, but is not limited to:

• Reed’s (1999) study relating to pessimism and HIV-related symptoms
• Kearney et al.’s (2006) study of stress and the immune system
• Weinberger et al.’s (1981) study on health beliefs and smoking behaviour
• Polivy’s (2001) false hope theory regarding dietary goals and optimism
• Gatchel’s (2017) study on fear avoidance belief and chronic pain
• Chapin’s (2010) study on the role of optimistic bias in adolescent risky sexual practices
• Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance in relation to health-related behaviour
• optimism bias in relation to health behaviour.

It is appropriate and useful for candidates to address other relevant factors in order to respond to the command term “to what extent”.

Candidates could choose to discuss the extent to which dispositional factors or health beliefs affect one, or more than one health-related phenomena. Both approaches are equally acceptable.

Candidates may address a small number of factors and/or health beliefs in order to demonstrate depth of knowledge, or may address a larger number of factors and/or health beliefs in order to demonstrate breadth of knowledge. Both approaches are equally acceptable.

This was one of the least responded to questions within the option, as well as on the entire exam. Those candidates who were prepared to answer this question did well, especially in terms of how health beliefs affected health (obesity and stress were the most common issues addressed). Some simply responded by addressing health concerns in general. On several occasions, candidates confused “dispositional” and “situational” factors and therefore they could not access the middle or higher markbands for criterion B. In addition to this, most responses provided descriptive accounts with little or no evidence of critical thinking. These responses provided some general knowledge and examples of research studies with little attempt to link the studies to the question being addressed.