Lifestyle, Social Class and Health-Related Behaviour: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of 15 Year Olds in Glasgow and Helsinki

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Abstract
The extent to which young people's lifestyles are related to social class, their relationship with health behaviours, and variations in these relationships between countries are of central relevance to an assessment of the extent to which post-modern (global) influences have replaced those associated with traditional (local) social structures. A comparison between 15 year olds in Glasgow and Helsinki reveals a remarkably similar pattern of relationships. In both locations, involvement in commercial leisure was unrelated to class, as was sports/games in Glasgow, while conventional lifestyles (more middle class) and street-based lifestyles (more working class) were class associated. Furthermore, while lifestyles were strongly related to smoking, drinking and drug use, street-based and commercial leisure orientations elevating rates, sports/games reducing them, social class was of negligible consequence for health behaviours in both places. We conclude that, while there remains a link between social class and some lifestyles, notably in relation to street-based leisure, for the most part young people's lifestyles cut across class and national boundaries and have similar consequences for health behaviour.