The Concept of Lifestyle
Lifestyle refers to the interests, opinions and behaviours of individuals, groups or cultures. It is a highly generic and complex concept that has been addressed in different ways by various fields of scientific knowledge. In health psychology, the most prominent models focus on the lifestyle as a set of healthy behaviours that are characterised by positive aspects of mental and physical fitness.These models conceive of lifestyle as an individual characteristic and are usually defined according to the social structure of the person (e.g., schooling, status in society, occupation). They also identify and differentiate people according to their behaviours and lifestyles, thereby making it possible to create different social classes. Veal [6] remarked that lifestyle is the way that the individual organises his or her behaviour in accordance with socialisation and the culture of a particular group.The model of Georg Simmel and Pierre Bourdieu emphasises the dynamic forces at work in a person's socialisation, which are influenced by internal and external factors. The latter include the personal characteristics of the person, such as their temperament and inclinations; the social structures in which they live; and the external factors that influence their environment, including the economy, the media and other cultural influences. These factors have a significant effect on the lifestyle and its evolution over time.Various definitions of lifestyle have been formulated, but they are all characterised by the idea that lifestyle is an expression of an individual's self-image and that it is a combination of the individual's preferences, expectations, values, beliefs, emotions, and expectations. It is this combination that determines the lifestyle and makes it unique.There are two main approaches to the notion of lifestyle, one which is psychological and the other sociological. The psychological approach emphasises the fact that lifestyle is a personal characteristic that is independent of social structure and culture, but that it is a consequence of personality development, especially during the maturation of the personality.It is a concept that includes the different stages of an individual's life, from childhood to adulthood and into old age. Psychologists have identified the different lifestyles of various generations, and these are reflected in a person's choices and habits.Sociological approaches to the concept of lifestyle have been dominated by ideas that emphasise the interdependence between individual and social structures. These models have been characterised by a lack of clarity on the question of how, when and why lifestyles are formed. It is a question that appears to be central to the debate on how and why lifestyles change, and it will be necessary to explore this issue in order to develop more effective research and intervention projects. Moreover, it is essential to understand how the concept of lifestyle has been defined so that we can develop more effective theoretical and explanatory models. This is a key step towards understanding how to promote lifestyles that contribute positively to health. It is therefore a crucial concept for health psychology.