Hypertension presents a significant health risk to both developed and developing countries, affecting approximately 78 million Americans of various ethnic backgrounds. Though a great deal of research about hypertension and minority groups has been published, few studies have examined hypertension in the Armenian American population in the Los Angeles area, one of the most concentrated Armenian American communities in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in health promotion behavior between hypertensive and normotensive Armenian Americans. The theoretical basis for this study was Pender's health promotion model and the health promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP-II), which is used to measure 6 different subscales of health promotion behavior. A quantitative approach was used to examine the relationship between hypertensive status and health promotion behavior. With a sample size of 204, this study found that while there was no significant difference in overall HPLP-II scores, the normotensive group scored higher on physical activity (p = 0.001) and stress management (p = 0.004). These differences remained significant even when controlling for body mass index (BMI). Additionally, the study found high smoking rates and elevated BMI across both samples. These results suggest that interventions that target stress management and physical activity and use the cultural strengths of interpersonal relationships and spiritual growth may be the most effective. This information may be used as a foundation in future interventional studies and may create significant social change by decreasing hypertension among the Armenian American population and increasing awareness of risk factors and prevention.

An individual’s personality traits and characteristics have been found to have an important relationship with health behaviors. However, there has been minimal research conducted with personality types. The purpose of the study was to examine the predictive relationship among MBTI® personality preferences and types and both selected health-promoting and selected risk-taking behaviors among residential college students. Furthermore, several potential mediating demographic variables were added to the study to determine their predictive relationship and if they should be entered into a model for the selected health behaviors. The study used a cross-sectional design with two self-report instruments and demographic questionnaire. The two self-report instruments were the MBTI® and the HPLP II. A systematic random sample was employed to obtain the sample of full-time residential college students. A total of 406 subjects voluntarily completed the instruments. The subjects ranged in age from 18 to 28 with 98.3% reporting traditional college age. Descriptive and inferential statistics with an alpha level of .05 were used for data analysis. The results revealed that models incorporating MBTI® personality preferences and types had a significant predictive relationship with nutrition, interpersonal relations, spiritual growth, physical activity, aggregate health-promoting lifestyle, alcohol use, binge drinking, and heavy drinking. However, the variance explained by the models for each behavior was consistently low with the one exception of interpersonal relations. Health-responsibility, stress management, and cigarette smoking could not be predicted by models integrating MBTI® personality preferences and types. Nonetheless, specific personality preferences and types did have a significant relationship with health-responsibility, stress management, and cigarette smoking. In conclusion, MBTI® personality preferences and types provided valuable insight into explaining several of the selected health behaviors. The results revealed personality preferences and type can be useful in health research. Given the popularity of the MBTI®, future research incorporating the MBTI® and various health behaviors may offer valuable information used by health professionals and counselors to modify health behaviors.