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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Sep 16.
Published in final edited form as: Fam Med. 2008 Oct;40(9):638–644.

Table 1.

Locus of Control Model for Health Behavior With Religion Examples

Locus of Control Explanation Religious Example
Internal Person believes that they have the power to impact or change their health through their behavior Person prays for their health because they believe it is something they can do to help themselves
External (powerful others) Person believes that they do not have power to impact their own health, but other people do Person relies on their religious leader for health advice (and maybe their physician)
External (fate) Person believes that no one can impact their health, it is all up to fate (or God/higher power) Person prays for their health (or adopts superstitious behaviors) because they don’t believe they can do anything to help themselves