A three-item scale measuring the degree to which a person values being healthy, with an explicit emphasis on physical health and healthy eating. Items use an importance response format rather than agreement, asking how important participants consider general health, physical condition, and dietary vigilance. The scale was developed for use as an individual-difference measure and manipulation check in self-regulatory goal research; May and Irmak (2014) used it in Study 1 to verify that a healthiness prime elevated health importance perceptions relative to a control condition. Alpha = .94 indicates excellent internal consistency. The source of the scale was not identified by May and Irmak (2014).
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
May and Irmak (2014) did not identify a prior source for this scale. Some evidence of predictive validity is available: participants in the healthiness-primed condition scored significantly higher on the scale than control-condition participants, suggesting the items are responsive to situational activation of health goals. The scale's emphasis on physical health and eating makes it particularly appropriate in self-regulatory, food choice, and health-priming research contexts; researchers studying mental or social health as distinct constructs should verify content coverage. Because the source is unattributed, this scale should be used with caution and supplemented with convergent validity evidence when employed in measurement-focused research.
May, F., & Irmak, Ç. (2014). Licensing indulgence in the present by distorting memories of past behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(3), 624–641.
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