The term ‘lifestyle’ has been used in a variety of ways in scientific research. It has been used to define a person’s behavioural choices or the set of factors that determine their health determinants. However, the concept of lifestyle is vague and is not well defined in scientific literature. A critical reworking of the concept is necessary as a basic step towards more effective theoretical and explanatory models.
A person’s lifestyle is often seen as a way of life that includes a set of behavioural choices that reflect his or her values, interests and attitudes. It can include habits about eating, socialising, leisure activities and even work. It can also involve beliefs about religion, politics and intimacy. The lifestyles of people living in rural and urban areas differ, as does the type of food they eat and the activities that they engage in. It can also include things like smoking, drinking and drugs, and how much exercise they get. It is sometimes linked to a particular subculture and can be as broad as swinging, nudism or festival culture. It can also be as narrow as prepping for disaster or alternative sexuality.
One trend is based on Weber’s formal analysis of the phenomenon, in which lifestyles can be understood as individualised, collectively organised behaviours, and as resulting from dynamic forces at a sociocultural level. This approach is reinterpreted by Georg Simmel and Pierre Bourdieu, with the latter emphasising that lifestyles are not only individualised but can also be identified as social practices that communicate status-roles (in terms of both consumption and lifestyle).
Other definitions focus on the internal aspect of the construct, in which it can be understood as an organisational model that includes personality traits and attitudes. This is the approach that has been mainly adopted by psychological researchers.
Psychological studies have considered that the lifestyle of a person can be identified by considering his or her value system and the hierarchy of values that he or she adopts in the context of their relationships with other persons. In addition, some studies have considered that the lifestyle of a particular person is determined by his or her cultural background.
The concept of lifestyle is not well defined and is used in a variety of different ways. This is the case in health psychology, where the concept is used to describe a person’s health behaviours and their effects. It is important to clarify how the concept of lifestyle can be applied in a better and more accurate manner in order to improve the quality of health psychology research. The present paper is a narrative review that reexamines the main definitions of the concept in the field of health psychology from an internal, external and temporal perspective. This has allowed us to identify the main components that characterise the concept of lifestyle. The results of this study can be useful for designing more effective and more precise health promotion interventions.