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Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Behaviour: An Evolutionary Perspective

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Applied Evolutionary Anthropology

Part of the book series: Advances in the Evolutionary Analysis of Human Behaviour ((AEAHB,volume 1))

Abstract

Socioeconomic disparities in health behaviour are a reliable finding across many societies. Individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) more frequently undertake behaviours detrimental to health (e.g. smoking) than those of higher SES. Despite a large volume of research on the subject, there is still no consensus on the causes of these disparities. In this chapter, we discuss nine categories of explanation which have been put forward in the social science literature. We then outline a complementary behavioural-ecological approach based on the idea that as extrinsic mortality increases, the payoff to investment in preventative health behaviour declines. We discuss how this evolutionary approach alters the interpretation of existing explanations, allowing us to reorganise the nine categories of explanation into three; ultimate, proximate and constraint based. We then discuss how this perspective can help to guide future research in public health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK

    Gillian V. Pepper & Daniel Nettle

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  1. Gillian V. Pepper
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  2. Daniel Nettle
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Correspondence to Gillian V. Pepper .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol Archaeology and Anthropology, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Mhairi A. Gibson

  2. Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

    David W. Lawson

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Pepper, G., Nettle, D. (2014). Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Behaviour: An Evolutionary Perspective. In: Gibson, M., Lawson, D. (eds) Applied Evolutionary Anthropology. Advances in the Evolutionary Analysis of Human Behaviour, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0280-4_10

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