Social class differences in health behaviours among employees from Britain, Finland and Japan: The influence of psychosocial factors

Eero Lahelma*, Tea Lallukka, Mikko Laaksonen, Pekka Martikainen, Ossi Rahkonen, Tarani Chandola, Jenny Head, Michael Marmot, Sadanobu Kagamimori, Takashi Tatsuse, Michikazu Sekine

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study aims to examine social class differences in smoking, heavy drinking, unhealthy food habits, physical inactivity and obesity, and work-related psychosocial factors as explanations for these differences. This is done by comparing employee cohorts from Britain, Finland and Japan. Social class differences in health behaviours are found in the two western European countries, but not in Japan. The studied psychosocial factors related to work, work-family interface and social relationships did not explain the found class differences in health behaviours.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-70
Number of pages10
JournalHealth and Place
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010/01

Keywords

  • Comparison
  • Explanations
  • Health behaviours
  • Psychosocial factors
  • Social class

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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