The Concept of Lifestyle
The concept of lifestyle has been interpreted in many ways. In general it describes an individual's interests, opinions, behaviours and behavioural orientations. It is a combination of both determining intangible and tangible factors and thus differs from personality or identity theories which only focus on the latter. The concept is frequently used in scientific research and health psychology. However, there is no clear and shared definition of this concept and it appears that most existing theories only focus on the behavioural component of lifestyle and neglect its psychological and identity dimensions.This paper reexamines the major explicit definitions of lifestyle in the psychological and sociological literature from an internal, external and temporal perspective. A new interpretation of this concept is suggested, based on the idea that lifestyles are a result of a dynamic interaction between people and their environments.A growing number of studies and research are focused on the influence of lifestyles on health. However, these studies lack a theoretical and methodological framework. The main objective of this article is to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive conceptual framework for the study of health-related lifestyles, including their relationship with the determinants of healthy living. This is a first step towards a better understanding of the concept of lifestyle, and it may lead to more consistent and meaningful evaluation of interventions in the area of health promotion.In the early part of this century, the term lifestyle was used for describing an overall pattern of a person's life (Burns, 1989). Later it was used to describe a particular way of living or a mode of consumption. The term is currently most often used to refer to a lifestyle in the context of health, and it has been attributed to an individual's choice of eating habits, physical activity level, use of drugs and tobacco, etc.There are several different perspectives on the concept of lifestyle. Some authors see it as a form of identity, and others as a way of coping with stress or as a method for self-promotion. Some researchers define it as a set of behavioural patterns that determine one's health, and others focus on the underlying mental and emotional mechanisms which influence the selection and implementation of lifestyle choices.Traditionally, sociology has analysed lifestyles through the concepts of field and habitus. Georg Simmel developed a formal model of the structure of social practices, which depended on both external causes (the fields that define power relations) and internal ones (inclinations, preferences, expectations and beliefs). Pierre Bourdieu elaborated on this analysis by proposing an approach in which lifestyles, consisting mainly of social practices, reflect the interaction between the structure of the field and processes related to the habitus.Psychological approaches to the concept of lifestyle have also developed in parallel with the sociological approach. Some of these include the profiles-and-trends approach, in which attitudes, interests and opinions are considered as basic components of lifestyles and are analysed from both synchronic and diachronic points of view. Other approaches, such as those of Bernard Cathelat and Daniel Yankelovich, are concerned with the emergence of new lifestyles and how they affect existing ones.