Well-Being and the Lifestyle Habits of the Spanish Population: The Association between Subjective Well-Being and Eating Habits

Laura Cabiedes-Miragaya, Cecilia Diaz-Mendez and Isabel García-Espejo
Additional contact information
Laura Cabiedes-Miragaya: Research Group in Sociology of Food, Department of Applied Economics, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain
Cecilia Diaz-Mendez: Research Group in Sociology of Food, Department of Sociology, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain
Isabel García-Espejo: Research Group in Sociology of Food, Department of Sociology, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The so-called Mediterranean diet is not simply a collection of foodstuffs but an expression of the culture of the countries of the south of Europe, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. Despite the link between food and culture, little has been studied about how diet contributes to the well-being of the population. This article aims to analyze the association between subjective well-being and the eating habits of the Spanish population in order to gain a better understanding of the subjective well-being that food culture produces. For this study, we used a representative sample of the Spanish adult population from a survey by the Sociological Research Center (CIS 2017). Three indicators of subjective well-being were used: perceived health, life satisfaction, and feeling of happiness. The independent variables relating to eating habits considered in the analysis were, among others, how often meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, and sweets were consumed; how the food was prepared; how often meals were eaten out at restaurants or cafés and how often they were eaten with family or friends. Other independent variables related to lifestyle habits were also included in the analysis, in particular, physical exercise and body mass index. We used ordinal logistic regressions and multiple linear regression models. Our findings coincide in large measure with those obtained in earlier studies where perceived health and income play a key role in evaluating subjective well-being. In turn, several variables related to lifestyle habits, such as consuming sweets and fruits, social interaction around meals, exercising, and body mass index, were also associated with subjective well-being.

Keywords: subjective well-being; life satisfaction; eating habits; Mediterranean diet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1553/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1553/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1553-:d:494620

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().