Does financial literacy influence preventive health check-up behavior in Japan? a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background General health check-ups are an important element of healthcare, as they are designed to detect diseases, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality. Recent studies have found that financial literacy promotes preventive healthcare usage and reduces risky health behaviors such as smoking, lack of exercise, and gambling. Based on this evidence, we hypothesize that financial literacy, as a rational decision-making tool, is positively associated with health check-up behavior in Japan. Methods We extracted data on financial literacy, the main explanatory variable of this study, from the 2010 wave of the Preference Parameter Study (PPS) of Osaka University. Data on health check-up behavior as a dependent variable, along with control variables, were obtained from the 2011 PPS wave. Our sample focused on Japan’s middle-aged working population (40–64 years), and we applied probit regressions to test our hypothesis. Results Our final sample size was 2,208 participants after merging the two datasets. Descriptive statistics show that respondents had moderate financial literacy (mean = 0.62, SD = 0.33), low financial education (mean = 0.17, SD = 0.38), and low participation (mean = 31.75%, SD = 46.56%) in the health check-up. The probit regression analysis showed that financial literacy is insignificantly associated with health check-up behavior in Japan (coefficient = -0.0229; 95% CI: -0.2011—0.1551; p-value = 0.801). However, demographic factors such as being male (coefficient = -0.2299; 95% CI: -0.3649—-0.0950; p-value = 0.001), older (coefficient = 0.0280; 95% CI: 0.0188 – 0.0371; p-value = 0.000), and married (coefficient = 0.3217; 95% CI: 0.0728 – 0.5705; p-value = 0.011), as well as risky health behavior such as smoking (coefficient = -0.2784; 95% CI: -0.4262—-0.1305; p-value = 0.000) are significantly related to health check-up behavior. Conclusions Our results suggest that financial literacy insignificantly motivates people to behave rationally and understand the value of health check-ups as a tool for sustainable health.

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Participation in Health Checkups among Thai Adults Aged 19-60 Years: Cross-Sectional Study at Vajira Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand

“…This study found that 53.4% of participants underwent health checkups in the past 3 years. This figure is relatively higher than that reported by Ohnishi et al and Lal et al [14][15] , who studied the working-age population in Japan and found health checkup rates in the past year ranging from 31.8% to 43.9%. The prevalence of health checkups studied in the current research was based on 3-year data according to Thailand's health checkup guidelines 4 ; meanwhile, the Japanese study collected 1-year data.…”

“…The population in the current study received services at Vajira Hospital, located in urban areas, where higher rates of health checkups are typically observed compared with those in rural populations 15 .…”

Financial Literacy and Impulsivity: Evidence from Japan

“…Our main explanatory variable, financial literacy, was measured using three questions in (Appendix B) following some existing literature [10,19,[27][28][29][30][31][32]. We assigned one point for each correct answer and zero points for each incorrect answer.…”

Educación financiera desde un enfoque cienciométrico y revisión sistemática de literatura: aproximaciones recientes y tendencias

“…Es importante destacar que, de acuerdo con estudios de Cardona-Montoya et al ( 2022), la educación financiera es un catalizador del estado emocional, reduciendo la posibilidad de sufrir estrés, ansiedad y depresión, a lo que Lal et al (2022) agregan que está relacionada con la salud física.…”