Life styles, job environment and health status: Some empirical findings for West Germany

Abstract

The article investigates two issues: First, the link between health status, life styles and job environment and secondly, whether health life styles are influenced by socioeconomic factors. The theoretical framework used for the analysis is that of utility maximization where the consumption of medical and non medical goods as well as the health status enter as arguments. The model is empirically tested using a data sample of the West German population (BZGA 1984 sample). The study findings support the hypotheses: life style and work conditions are important factors to health status and that socioeconomic factors, especially education influence life style.

Notes

∗ The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Jurgen Ditandy, University of Trier and Clark University for processing the data. Anonymous referees provided valuable comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are the responsibility of the author.