%0 Report
        %A Bietenbeck, Jan
%A Maschmann, Lukas
%A Nilsson, Therese
%A Spika, Devon
        %T Cultural Origins of Preventive Health Care Utilization
        %D 2025
        %8 2025 Dec
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18301
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18301
        %X We examine whether culturally transmitted time and risk preferences help explain differences in preventive health care uptake. We combine individual-level survey data from 27 European countries with country-level preference measures from the Global Preferences Survey. To isolate cultural influences from institutional and economic confounders, we focus on second-generation immigrants, who were born and currently reside in the same country -- and thus face the same institutional environment and health care system -- but whose parents originate from culturally distinct countries. We find that descendants of more patient cultures are more likely to use preventive services, while those from more risk-taking cultures are less likely to do so. These associations appear across multiple preventive care outcomes and remain robust to a wide range of socio-demographic and country-of-origin controls. The results highlight the role of culturally shaped preferences as a subtle but systematic determinant of preventive health behavior.
        %K patience
%K culture
%K preventive care
%K risk-taking