Gender and territorial disparities in the health-saving behavior require the identification of psychosocial mediation mechanisms. A hypothesis is the following: the subjective assessment of health functions as a multidimensional psychosocial construct that mediates the influence of socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, type of settlement) on behavior through the adaptation of local assessment standards. The empirical basis of the study was made up of data from the sociological survey “Health and lifestyle of the population of the Republic of Bashkortostan” (N = 960, age 18-69 years, 2023), stratified by gender and type of settlement (Ufa, other cities, rural settlements), and official statistics from Rosstat for calculating life expectancy as a contextual background. We used Spearman's rank correlation (r) for individual data and mortality tables for municipal indicators as methods. We revealed that at the individual level, the subjective assessment of health correlates with the internal locus of control (p = 0.13; p < 0.01) and smoking (p = -0.46; p < 0.01). Age enhances positive assessments (p = 0.36; p < 0.01). In the territorial context, the gender gap in life expectancy is 10.82 years (Ufa – village settlement: 4.34 years for men), the psychosocial control gradient is 28.66 percentage points. The female urban population demonstrates an adaptive model (control 55.97% + support 79.7% → smoking 21.5%). The paper confirms a mediation model: demography → psychosocial resources → SRH → behavior. Gender and geographically oriented interventions are needed: internal locus control programs for rural men, coping trainings based on the female model. According to the research results, the subjective assessment of health is a strategic indicator of psychosocial capital for regional policy
Keywords
subjective assessment of health, health-saving behavior, locus of control, coping strategies, gender differences, territorial disparities, Republic of Bashkortostan