Instability of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-liking, self-control, self-competence and perfectionism: associations with oral health status and oral health-related behaviours

To cite this article: Int J Dent Hygiene 10, 2012; 22–29 DOI: 10.1111/j.1601‐5037.2011.00519.x Dumitrescu AL, Zetu L, Teslaru S. Instability of self‐esteem, self‐confidence, self‐liking, self‐control, self‐competence and perfectionism: associations with oral health status and oral health‐related behaviours. : Aim: Our aim was to explore whether instability of self‐esteem, self‐confidence, self‐liking, self‐control, self‐competence and perfectionism each has an independent contribution to the self‐rated oral health and oral health‐related behaviours. Material and methods: A cross‐sectional study design was used. Data were collected between November 2008 and May 2009. The sample consisted of 205 Romanian adults (mean age: 29.84 years; 65.2% women; 40% married) who were a random population drawn consecutively from the registry file of two private dental practices in the Iasi area. The questionnaire included information about demographic, psychological, self‐reported oral health and oral health‐related behaviour items. Results: The comparison of participants who never flossed their teeth with those who flossed everyday showed statistically significant lower levels of self‐confidence (P