The college years provide an important window of opportunity for the implementation of preventive efforts, especially with respect to smoking, problematic drinking, and obesity. Targeting of individuals at high risk of adopting those health behaviors might increase the effectiveness of those efforts, yet little is known about possible criteria for targeting and their ability to predict the adoption of risky health behaviors. Human capital theory predicts that more risk-averse individuals are more likely to invest in their health capital and should therefore be less likely to engage in risky health behaviors. Building on this theoretical prediction, this study uses a simple one-item measure of risk attitude and examines its ability to predict the Alameda Seven health behaviors in a sample of college students in the Republic of Korea. Unlike previous research, it also controls for personality traits and cognitive ability. Experimental data were gathered and analyzed using regression analysis. The risk measure predicted the probability of smoking and reporting higher stress levels, with no correlations found for the other health behaviors, suggesting that replication studies using larger samples should be carried out to analyze if these findings persist.
Health Inequalities through the Lens of Health-Capital Theory: Issues, Solutions, and Future Directions
