Factors affecting participation in health checkups: Evidence from Japanese survey data.

Multiple factors influence individuals to get health checkups. This study investigates key determinants of the health checkup decision by using 2696 Japanese respondents' data from a questionnaire survey entitled "Preference Parameters Study" that was conducted in four countries by the Global Centers of Excellence program at Osaka University. In the Probit and OLS regressions, other than relevant personal attributes being identified, the hyperbolic discounter dummy and its interaction terms with respondents' health behaviors were also included as independent variables. The results suggest that some socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, income, household size, occupational status, educational level are significant. In addition, hyperbolic discounters are found to be more likely than non-hyperbolic discounters to seek health checkups, which indicates that the effect of time preference on health checkup behavior differs significantly among the different types of time discount structures.