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Cultural origins of preventive health care utilization

Bietenbeck, Jan LU ; Maschmann, Lukas LU ; Nilsson, Therese LU and Spika, Devon LU (2026) In Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 249.
Abstract
We examine whether preventive health care uptake varies with cultural background related to patience and risk-taking. We combine individual-level survey data on preventive care use from 27 European countries with country-level preference measures from the Global Preferences Survey. To reduce confounding from institutional and economic correlates of culture, we focus on second-generation immigrants, who were born and currently reside in the same country – and thus face the same health care system and broad economic environment – but differ in inherited cultural background through their parents’ countries of origin. We find that respondents from more patient cultural backgrounds are more likely to use preventive services, while those from... (More)
We examine whether preventive health care uptake varies with cultural background related to patience and risk-taking. We combine individual-level survey data on preventive care use from 27 European countries with country-level preference measures from the Global Preferences Survey. To reduce confounding from institutional and economic correlates of culture, we focus on second-generation immigrants, who were born and currently reside in the same country – and thus face the same health care system and broad economic environment – but differ in inherited cultural background through their parents’ countries of origin. We find that respondents from more patient cultural backgrounds are more likely to use preventive services, while those from more risk-tolerant backgrounds are less likely to do so. These patterns appear across multiple preventive care outcomes. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
volume
249
publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
0167-2681
DOI
10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107679
project
CIRCE – the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Cancer and Equity in Women
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
9ccbd2dc-dd41-451d-8f62-f008f7c2c499
date added to LUP
2026-07-09 11:07:15
date last changed
2026-08-24 14:38:04
@article{9ccbd2dc-dd41-451d-8f62-f008f7c2c499,
  abstract     = {{We examine whether preventive health care uptake varies with cultural background related to patience and risk-taking. We combine individual-level survey data on preventive care use from 27 European countries with country-level preference measures from the Global Preferences Survey. To reduce confounding from institutional and economic correlates of culture, we focus on second-generation immigrants, who were born and currently reside in the same country – and thus face the same health care system and broad economic environment – but differ in inherited cultural background through their parents’ countries of origin. We find that respondents from more patient cultural backgrounds are more likely to use preventive services, while those from more risk-tolerant backgrounds are less likely to do so. These patterns appear across multiple preventive care outcomes.}},
  author       = {{Bietenbeck, Jan and Maschmann, Lukas and Nilsson, Therese and Spika, Devon}},
  issn         = {{0167-2681}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization}},
  title        = {{Cultural origins of preventive health care utilization}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107679}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jebo.2026.107679}},
  volume       = {{249}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}