In recent years a number of investigators have begun to examine the impact of people's personality tendencies on their physical health. The Health Orientation Scale (HOS) is an objective self-report measure of several health-related personality features: private health consciousness, defined as the tendency to be highly aware of and to think about one's physical health-fitness; health image concern, defined as the tendency to be highly aware of the external, observable impression that one's physical health makes on others; health anxiety, defined as the tendency to be anxious and nervous about one's physical health-fitness; health esteem-confidence, defined as a generalized tendency to positively evaluate and to feel confident about one's physical health; motivation to avoid unhealthiness, defined as the motivation and desire to avoid being in a state of unhealthiness; motivation for healthiness, defined as the motivational tendency and desire to keep oneself in great physical health; internal health control, defined as the tendency to believe that one's physical health and fitness is a direct function of one's own behaviors and actions; external health control, defined as the tendency to believe that one's health status is determined by uncontrollable factors factors external to oneself; health expectations, defined as the tendency to expect that one's health will be excellent and positive in the future; and health status, defined as the tendency to regard oneself as being currently well-exercised and in good physical shape.