Predictors of Health Care Use Among Individuals Seeking Therapy for Marital and Family Problems: An Exploratory Study

A number of studies have examined variables associated with health care use. However, no study is known to have considered health care use among people seeking services for marital and family problems. In this study, health care use of persons (N = 110) seeking these services was investigated to determine the strongest psychosocial correlates of health care use. The goal was to identify potential ‘‘targets’’ of clinical intervention that may be driving excessive health care use. ‘‘Informational support’’ and ‘‘somatization’’ were the strongest correlates for the complete sample, with the model explaining 24% of the variance in health care use. For ‘‘high users’’ of health care, ‘‘hostility’’ was the strongest correlate, accounting for more than 36% of the variance in health care use.