BACKGROUND Why older persons engage in varying amounts of health maintenance activity is becoming both an increasingly important policy issue and a topic of interest to health services researchers. Such activity may help the elderly to delay the onset of the health-related problems associated with aging, maintain if not improve their functional abilities, and perhaps improve their quality of life. METHODS Using a conceptual model largely based upon the health belief model, this study sought to examine predictors of variability of health maintenance activity among older persons. The project included cross-sectional data drawn from the first phase of a multiyear panel study of elderly community residents. RESULTS Results of ordinary least-squares and logistic regression analyses of seven types of health maintenance activity suggest that health beliefs are an important consideration but that other variables, namely, type of insurance plan and select sociodemographic factors, also had significant impacts. Another consistent finding was that each of the types of health maintenance activity was associated with different types of predictor variables. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that in order for levels of health maintenance activity to be increased, intervention programs need to be targeted toward specific types of health beliefs and need to take into account the importance of social differences.