Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.

Within affluent populations, there are marked socioeconomic gradients in health behavior, with people of lower socioeconomic position smoking more, exercising less, having poorer diets, complying less well with therapy, using medical services less, ignoring health and safety advice more, and being l...

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Main Author: Daniel Nettle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010-10-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2954172?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-627c89d890d940a5824aa80444b606c02020-11-25T02:29:05ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032010-10-01510e1337110.1371/journal.pone.0013371Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.Daniel NettleWithin affluent populations, there are marked socioeconomic gradients in health behavior, with people of lower socioeconomic position smoking more, exercising less, having poorer diets, complying less well with therapy, using medical services less, ignoring health and safety advice more, and being less health-conscious overall, than their more affluent peers. Whilst the proximate mechanisms underlying these behavioral differences have been investigated, the ultimate causes have not.This paper presents a theoretical model of why socioeconomic gradients in health behavior might be found. I conjecture that lower socioeconomic position is associated with greater exposure to extrinsic mortality risks (that is, risks that cannot be mitigated through behavior), and that health behavior competes for people's time and energy against other activities which contribute to their fitness. Under these two assumptions, the model shows that the optimal amount of health behavior to perform is indeed less for people of lower socioeconomic position.The model predicts an exacerbatory dynamic of poverty, whereby the greater exposure of poor people to unavoidable harms engenders a disinvestment in health behavior, resulting in a final inequality in health outcomes which is greater than the initial inequality in material conditions. I discuss the assumptions of the model, and its implications for strategies for the reduction of health inequalities.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2954172?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Daniel Nettle
spellingShingle Daniel Nettle
Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Daniel Nettle
author_sort Daniel Nettle
title Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
title_short Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
title_full Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
title_fullStr Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
title_full_unstemmed Why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? A perspective from behavioral ecology.
title_sort why are there social gradients in preventative health behavior? a perspective from behavioral ecology.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2010-10-01
description Within affluent populations, there are marked socioeconomic gradients in health behavior, with people of lower socioeconomic position smoking more, exercising less, having poorer diets, complying less well with therapy, using medical services less, ignoring health and safety advice more, and being less health-conscious overall, than their more affluent peers. Whilst the proximate mechanisms underlying these behavioral differences have been investigated, the ultimate causes have not.This paper presents a theoretical model of why socioeconomic gradients in health behavior might be found. I conjecture that lower socioeconomic position is associated with greater exposure to extrinsic mortality risks (that is, risks that cannot be mitigated through behavior), and that health behavior competes for people's time and energy against other activities which contribute to their fitness. Under these two assumptions, the model shows that the optimal amount of health behavior to perform is indeed less for people of lower socioeconomic position.The model predicts an exacerbatory dynamic of poverty, whereby the greater exposure of poor people to unavoidable harms engenders a disinvestment in health behavior, resulting in a final inequality in health outcomes which is greater than the initial inequality in material conditions. I discuss the assumptions of the model, and its implications for strategies for the reduction of health inequalities.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2954172?pdf=render
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