Economic Impact on Health and Well-Being: Comparative Study of Israeli and Japanese University “Help” Profession Students

Richard Isralowitz (), Mor Yehudai, Daichi Sugawara, Akihiro Masuyama, Shai-li Romem Porat, Adi Dagan and Alexander Reznik
Additional contact information
Richard Isralowitz: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
Mor Yehudai: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
Daichi Sugawara: Faculty of Human Services, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8577, Ibaraki, Japan
Akihiro Masuyama: Faculty of Psychology, Iryo Sosei University, Iwaki 970-8551, Fukushima, Japan
Shai-li Romem Porat: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
Adi Dagan: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
Alexander Reznik: Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Deteriorating economic conditions caused by rising inflation and living expenses can have negative consequences for university students. This comparative study examined Israeli and Japanese “help” profession (e.g., medicine, nursing, social work, and psychology) students’ fear of such conditions and its impact on their health and well-being. Methods: Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 848 university students from Israel and Japan (78.9% female, 20.4% male, and 0.7% other) during a 3-month period of economic decline in 2022. Reliable data-collection instruments and SPSS (version 25) were used for the study. Results: Overall, Japanese students evidenced a higher level of economic well-being than their Israeli counterparts. This finding may have been a result of the lower inflation and living costs in Japan. However, most survey respondents evidenced a fear of deteriorating economic conditions that was significantly associated with psycho-emotional behavior, including increased burnout, substance use, unhealthy food intake, weight gain, and resilience regardless of gender and religiosity. Conclusions: The study findings showed the impact of deteriorating economic conditions on the health and well-being of “help” profession students. These results are preliminary; however, they do serve as an early warning of the key challenges that may need to be considered and addressed for prevention and intervention purposes. Further research should be conducted in other countries and over different time periods to substantiate present findings.

Keywords: university students; economic concern; well-being; stress; burnout; loneliness; substance use; eating behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/12/561/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/12/561/ (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:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:561-:d:988689

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

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