The Economic Determinants of Physical Activity Behaviour of Working Age Adults: Evidence from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) survey

Presenter: Heather Brown, University of Sheffield

Abstract

Background: The factors that affect physical activity participation of working age individuals have not been extensively addressed from an economic perspective. The decision to participate in physical activity is an individual choice partially based on economic, social, and environmental factors. Core economic principles which have been designed and used for modelling response to incentives as well as time trade-offs can be used to explain physical activity behaviour. Because of both the potential adverse health and labour market effects of a sedentary lifestyle, increasing physical activity participation of working age adults is an essential goal for both the public and private sector. A better understanding of the economics behind an individual’s physical activity behaviour can help policy makers create effective policy to promote regular physical activity and thus a healthier population.

Objectives: This study aims to determine the factors which influence the physical activity behaviour of working age individuals in Australia using a modified time allocation framework and a variety of econometric techniques.

Methodology: The econometric treatment involves several estimation techniques to determine how individuals choose to allocate their time between market, non-market work, and leisure which includes physical activity. The models control for individual heterogeneity, unobserved effects, and the potential endogeneity of some of the explanatory variables, such as health, on the physical activity outcome. All models are estimated separately by gender.

Data: The analysis undertaken in this paper uses a balanced panel from the first six waves (2001-2006) of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) dataset.

Results: The presence of young dependent children under the age of five in the household is a barrier to physical activity participation for men and women. An interaction term for time pressures and young children is significant for both genders suggesting that young children alter how individuals allocate their time between market, non-market work, and leisure. The effect of these children coefficients are moderated by gender. The magnitude of these two coefficients is greater for women who tend to traditionally play a greater role in childcare than men. Living in an urban area is a significant barrier to physical activity for both men and women. Regular physical activity participation is positively related with income for both genders. Health and physical activity appear to have an endogenous relationship. Poorer health for both genders significantly reduces the likelihood of participating in physical activity.

Conclusions: The study highlights many of the barriers to physical activity participation in this important demographic group. This analysis provides evidence that future government policy should focus on the promotion of family friendly sporting activities to provide opportunities for physical activity to parents, especially women with young children. Town planners need to ensure that cities are conducive to physical activity participation