PhD Candidate Socioeconomic differences in health behavior and everyday goal pursuit

Project description
Health inequalities based on socioeconomic differences are a pressing challenge in our current society. An important contributor to these health disparities is that although people with lower socio-economic status (SES) are equally motivated to adopt a healthy lifestyle, they still engage in more health risk behaviors and less health protective behaviors than people with higher SES. In this project, we aim to explain these socioeconomic differences in health behavior from a health psychology and human motivation perspective. We propose that socioeconomic differences in health behavior may be explained by competing goals and demands in everyday life (e.g., health concerns compete with financial concerns). Therefore, we want to investigate socioeconomic differences in everyday goal pursuit: How many and what goals do individuals with high versus low SES generally pursue during their everyday life? How do these goals compete with or facilitate each other? How do individuals experience and perceive these goals in terms of, for example, importance, level of control, or autonomy, and how does this shape the prioritization of goals? And, can potential differences in perceptions, goal-competition and goal-prioritization explain socioeconomic differences in health behavior?

To answer these questions, you will design and conduct both qualitative (e.g., interviews) and quantitative (e.g., cross-sectional surveys, experience sampling or diary studies, and experiments) studies among participants with varying socioeconomic backgrounds. You will analyze data and describe the research and its results in scientific articles. Within the department, this project will fall within the hub theme ‘Behavioral insights for Health and Well-being’. You will work on this project together with a supervision team of enthusiastic (assistant) professors in population health and health psychology: Pam ten Broeke, Laurens van Gestel, and Marieke Adriaanse. In addition, you will collaborate with end users and stakeholders, as well as with several disciplinary and interdisciplinary partners such as the Health Campus The Hague and the Leiden Healthy Society Center.

Terms and conditions
We offer a 0.8 – 1.0 FTE position for 1 year, with an extension to a total of four years upon successful assessment. Salary range from €2,770 to €3,539 gross per month based on a full-time employment (pay scale P, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. More at https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/working-at/job-application-procedure-and-employment-conditions.

Diversity
Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens our research. High quality teaching and research is inclusive.

Our Faculty
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences conducts high-quality research and offers a broad and disciplinary educational programme, focused on increasing our understanding of current developments in society. The faculty consists of five institutes: Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Developmental Sociology, Education and Child Studies, Political Science and Psychology. The faculty has approximately 7,000 students and 1000 staff members. For more information, please visit the website https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/social-behavioural-sciences.