Clustering of health behaviors among Japanese adults and their association with socio-demographics and happiness

BACKGROUND: Scholars have associated happiness with health behaviors, which co-occur and exert synergistic effects. Therefore, identifying clusters of health behaviors and their effect on happiness can contribute to the development of strategies for promoting happiness and improving health behaviors. AIM: This study aimed to examine clusters of health behaviors and their associations with socio-demographics and with happiness among Japanese adults. METHODS: This study used data from the Japanese Household Panel Survey and the Keio Household Panel Survey. Questionnaires were distributed to 4,993 households out of which 1,554 responses were analyzed (participants aged 27−65 years). The survey included health behaviors (alcohol consumption, smoking, vegetable and fruit consumption, breakfast-eating habits, and physical activities), happiness, and socio-demographics. Latent class analysis was conducted to identify the clusters, whereas latent regression was employed to investigate socio-demographics related to the clusters. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the relation between happiness and the clusters. RESULTS: Two health behavior clusters were identified: Cluster 1 (low substance use and good dietary habit; n = 817; 52.3%) and Cluster 2 (high alcohol, poor nutrition, and inactive; n = 737; 47.7%). Latent regression analysis indicated that all socio-demographics, barring socioeconomic status, were significantly associated with the clusters. The “low substance use and good dietary habit” cluster was significantly related with higher odds of happiness (odds ratio = 1.425, 95% confidence interval = 1.146−1.772, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified health behavior clusters among Japanese adults and established the association between the “low substance use and good dietary habit” cluster and high levels of happiness. However, the causality of the relationship between health behavior and happiness remains unclear, which highlights the need for further research to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.