perceived health locus of control, self-esteem, and its relations to psychological well-being status in iranian students

background: health locus of control (hlc) has been associated with a variety of ailments and health outcomes and de­signed to predict behaviors and cognitive processes relevant to mental and physical health. this study investigated the relation­ships between perceived health locus of control, self-esteem, and mental health status among iranian students. methods: in this analytical study the subjects were recruited from students in gonabad university of medical sci­ences, iran, who studied in the first year (n=154). students completed the questionnaires for assessing demographic, per­ceived health locus of control, self - esteem and psychological well- being data. results: the statistical analysis revealed a negative relationship between perceived internal hlc and self-esteem with psychologi­cal well-being. the positive correlation of the perceived chance hlc with psychological well-being was statisti­cally significant (r= 0.21, p < 0.01) and the positive correlation of the perceived internal hlc with self-esteem was statisti­cally significant (r= 0.25, p < 0.01). a significantly direct relationship between low perceived internal hlc, self-esteem and psychological problems was found among these students. conclusion: the findings will be addressed in relation to their implications for effective mental health education based on health locus of control especially internal and powerful others beliefs associated with self-esteem for students. this will re­quire additional monitoring and uninterrupted trying in order to be effective.