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Age and Gender Differences in the Association Between Risk Aversion and Risky Health Behaviors: Evidence from a Survey Experiment
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DOI：10.2147/rmhp.s600680.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Panxu Yang School of Insurance, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Correspondence: Panxu Yang, School of Insurance, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, No. 995, Shangchuan Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 201209, People’s Republic of China, Email panxuyoung@qq.com Background: Although studies have established a correlation between risk aversion and risky health behaviors, the heterogeneity of this relationship across age and gender groups remains underexplored. Methods: Data from 26,873 participants (aged 16 and above) from the 2018 wave of the China Family Panel Studies were analyzed using a five-round coin-toss experiment to measure risk aversion, with smoking and abnormal weight as risky health behaviors. Logistic regression examined the correlations. Results: Higher risk aversion was significantly associated with lower odds of smoking (OR = 0.979, p < 0.05) and abnormal body weight (OR = 0.972, p < 0.01). Age significantly moderated the association between risk aversion and smoking: the negative association was stronger among younger adults than older adults (risk aversion × age interaction OR = 1.001, p < 0.05), although the magnitude of this interaction is negligible. However, age did not significantly moderate the association between risk aversion and abnormal body weight (risk aversion × age interaction OR = 1.001, p > 0.1). Gender significantly moderated the association between risk aversion and abnormal body weight (risk aversion × male interaction OR = 1.032, p < 0.1) but did not significantly moderate the association between risk aversion and smoking. The negative association between risk aversion and abnormal body weight was more pronounced among females than males. Given the low explanatory power of the abnormal body weight model (Pseudo R2 = 0.008), these findings should be interpreted with caution. Conclusion: Risk aversion is negatively associated with smoking and abnormal body weight, with the association being more pronounced for smoking. Age-related moderation is negligible, and policy implications are warranted only for smoking prevention, given the limited explanatory power of the body weight model. Keywords: risk aversion, risky health behavior, age, gender
Keywords:
risk aversion
risky health behavior
age
gender
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