Do they know what is at risk? Health risk perception among the obese

Winter, Joachim and Wuppermann, Amelie C. (2014): Do they know what is at risk? Health risk perception among the obese. In: Health Economics, Vol. 23, No. 5: pp. 564-585

Abstract

The perception of health risks and risky health behaviors are closely associated. In this paper, we investigate the accuracy of health risk perceptions among obese individuals, aged 50-62 years. We compare subjective risk perceptions for various diseases elicited in the American Life Panel to individual's objective risks of the same diseases. We find that obese individuals significantly underestimate their 5-year risks of arthritis or rheumatism and hypertension, whereas they systematically overestimate their 5-year risks of a heart attack and a stroke. Obese individuals are thus aware of some but not all obesity-related health risks. For given diseases, we document substantial heterogeneities in the accuracy of expectations across individuals.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: obesity, health risk, subjective expectations
• Faculties: Economics; Economics > Chairs; Economics > Chairs > Seminar for Econometrics; Economics > Chairs > Junior Professor in Microecronometrics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• JEL Classification: I10, I18, D84
• ISSN: 1099-1050
• Language: English