The Meaning of Lifestyle
A person’s lifestyle is their way of living and includes things like eating, travelling, pursuing hobbies and interests, and more. It is influenced by various factors, including culture, family, and personal preferences. People’s lifestyles can also vary by location, such as whether they live in a city or a rural area. The concept of lifestyle has been used in numerous studies and research, but it is not clear how exactly it should be defined. Currently, most definitions focus on the behavioural component of lifestyle and tend to identify unhealthy habits as risk behaviours that can be modified by targeted health education campaigns. This approach has the drawback of ignoring other aspects of lifestyle that may be relevant to health.Theories that emphasise the internal dimension of lifestyle focus on individual characteristics that are rooted in early childhood and form a framework of guiding principles for decision making throughout life. They are characterised by a humanistic perspective that stresses the individual’s uniqueness and creativity, and they call attention to the importance of personal development. This interpretation of the meaning of lifestyle was originally introduced by Alfred Adler, then later developed by Milton Rokeach and Arnold Mitchell as a model for personality analysis.The second approach to the meaning of lifestyle is based on socialisation and contextual factors that influence the individual’s way of life. These factors include the person’s environment, their family and peers, and the social context in which they live. Among these, the most important is the person’s socioeconomic status, which determines their access to certain goods and services and influences their behaviour, values, and beliefs.Another major characteristic of lifestyles is their temporal aspect. Depending on the type of lifestyle, it can change over time or evolve through different stages in a person’s life. This characteristic has been incorporated into several models and theories, most notably the theory of identity by Giddens and Veal and the concept of a lifestyle as a continuum of life span by Giddens.This article aims to review the various definitions, results of studies, and theories of lifestyle to try to understand the main components that characterise this construct. It analyses these conceptualisations along three perspectives: internal, external, and temporal. This allows for a more in-depth understanding of the nature of lifestyle and helps to clarify future research directions.