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Age and Gender Differences in the Association Between Risk Aversion and Risky Health Behaviors: Evidence from a
1School of Insurance, Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy
|August 10, 2026
Summary
Higher risk aversion correlates with lower rates of smoking and abnormal weight. This association is stronger for smoking, with age having a negligible effect and gender showing a slight moderation for body weight. Policy focus is recommended for smoking prevention.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Public Health
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Established correlation between risk aversion and risky health behaviors.
- Limited exploration of this relationship's heterogeneity across age and gender.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the moderating roles of age and gender on the association between risk aversion and risky health behaviors.
- Analyze the relationship between risk aversion, smoking, and abnormal body weight in a large Chinese population.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 26,873 participants (aged 16+) from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies.
- Employed a five-round coin-toss experiment to measure risk aversion.
- Applied logistic regression to analyze correlations between risk aversion, smoking, and abnormal body weight.
Main Results:
- Higher risk aversion significantly correlated with lower odds of smoking (OR=0.979) and abnormal body weight (OR=0.972).
- Age significantly moderated the risk aversion-smoking link, stronger in younger adults, though negligibly.
- Gender moderated the risk aversion-abnormal body weight link, with a stronger negative association in females.
Conclusions:
- Risk aversion is inversely associated with smoking and abnormal body weight, particularly smoking.
- Age-related moderation is minimal; gender moderation is observed for body weight.
- Policy implications are most relevant for smoking prevention due to the low explanatory power of the body weight model.
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