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The impact of health behaviors and life quality on gender differences in mortality

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  • Marc Luy

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Paola Di Giulio

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

Since gender-specific mortality differences are known a great deal of research has been conducted on this subject. The resulting hypotheses for explaining male excess mortality can be sub-divided into two basic categories: the biological approach (focusing on biological and genetic factors) and the non-biological approach (focusing on behavioral and environmental factors). It has been proven impossible to explain the observed trends in mortality differences between women and men by relying solely on one of the two groups of theories. Recent studies indicate that the majority of the female survival advantage can be attributed to gender behaviors while the impact of biological factors seems to be limited to 1-2 years in life expectancy at birth. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the impact of gender-specific health behaviors and gender differences in life quality using micro level data for Western Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Luy & Paola Di Giulio, 2006. "The impact of health behaviors and life quality on gender differences in mortality," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-035, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2006-035
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2006-035
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    Cited by:

    1. Junji Kageyama, 2012. "Happiness and Sex Difference in Life Expectancy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 947-967, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Germany; life styles; mortality; sex differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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