IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v63y2006i5p1383-1399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multiple measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders

Author

Listed:
  • Lahelma, Eero
  • Laaksonen, Mikko
  • Martikainen, Pekka
  • Rahkonen, Ossi
  • Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, Sirpa

Abstract

While serious mental disorders typically show socioeconomic differences similar to physical illness--that is, that lower positions imply poorer health--differences for common mental disorders have been inconsistent. We aim to clarify the associations and pathways between measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders by simultaneously analysing several past and present socioeconomic measures. The data were derived from middle-aged women and men employed by the City of Helsinki. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2000-2002 among employees who, during each year, reached 40, 45, 50, 55 or 60 years of age. The pooled data include 8970 respondents (80% women; response rate 67%). Common mental disorders were measured by GHQ-12 and the SF-36 mental component summary. Seven socioeconomic measures were included: parental education, childhood economic difficulties, own education, occupational class, household income, home ownership, and current economic difficulties. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between the socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders. Past and present economic difficulties were strongly associated with common mental disorders, whereas conventional past and present socioeconomic status measures showed weak or slightly reverse associations. Adjusting for age and gradually for each socioeconomic measure did not affect the main findings, which were very similar for women and men, as well as for both measures of common mental disorders. While the associations of conventional socioeconomic status measures with common mental disorders were weak and inconsistent, our results highlight the importance of past and present economic difficulties to these disorders.

Suggested Citation

  • Lahelma, Eero & Laaksonen, Mikko & Martikainen, Pekka & Rahkonen, Ossi & Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, Sirpa, 2006. "Multiple measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 1383-1399, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:5:p:1383-1399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(06)00170-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laaksonen, M. & Rahkonen, O. & Martikainen, P. & Lahelma, E., 2005. "Socioeconomic position and self-rated health: The contribution of childhood socioeconomic circumstances, adult socioeconomic status, and material resources," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 95(8), pages 1403-1409.
    2. Martikainen, Pekka & Stansfeld, Stephen & Hemingway, Harry & Marmot, Michael, 1999. "Determinants of socioeconomic differences in change in physical and mental functioning," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 499-507, August.
    3. Chandola, Tarani & Bartley, Mel & Sacker, Amanda & Jenkinson, Crispin & Marmot, Michael, 2003. "Health selection in the Whitehall II study, UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(10), pages 2059-2072, May.
    4. Macintyre, Sally, 1997. "The black report and beyond what are the issues?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 723-745, March.
    5. Frederick J. Zimmerman & Wayne Katon, 2005. "Socioeconomic status, depression disparities, and financial strain: what lies behind the income‐depression relationship?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(12), pages 1197-1215, December.
    6. Hemingway, H. & Nicholson, A. & Stafford, M. & Roberts, R. & Marmot, M., 1997. "The impact of socioeconomic status on health functioning as assessed by the SF-36 questionnaire: The Whitehall II study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1484-1490.
    7. Cheng, Y. H. & Chi, I. & Boey, K. W. & Ko, L. S. F. & Chou, K. L., 2002. "Self-rated economic condition and the health of elderly persons in Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(8), pages 1415-1424, October.
    8. Emslie, Carol & Fuhrer, Rebecca & Hunt, Kate & Macintyre, Sally & Shipley, Martin & Stansfeld, Stephen, 2002. "Gender differences in mental health: evidence from three organisations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 621-624, February.
    9. Bartley, M. & Sacker, A. & Firth, D. & Fitzpatrick, R., 1999. "Understanding social variation in cardiovascular risk factors in women and men: the advantage of theoretically based measures," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 831-845, September.
    10. Katharina Hauck & Nigel Rice, 2004. "A longitudinal analysis of mental health mobility in Britain," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 981-1001, October.
    11. Chandola, Tarani, 1998. "Social inequality in coronary heart disease: a comparison of occupational classifications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 525-533, August.
    12. Sacker, Amanda & Bartley, Mel & Firth, David & Fitzpatrick, Ray, 2001. "Dimensions of social inequality in the health of women in England: occupational, material and behavioural pathways," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 763-781, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rasmus Hoffmann & Hannes Kröger & Siegfried Geyer, 2019. "Social Causation Versus Health Selection in the Life Course: Does Their Relative Importance Differ by Dimension of SES?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 1341-1367, February.
    2. Nina Rautio & Hannu Kautiainen & Hannu Koponen & Pekka Mäntyselkä & Markku Timonen & Leo Niskanen & Timo Saaristo & Heikki Oksa & Markku Peltonen & Hannu Puolijoki & Mauno Vanhala & Sirkka Keinänen, 2013. "Financial satisfaction and its relationship to depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults: Results from the FIN-D2D survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(3), pages 239-246, May.
    3. Rodrigo B Mansur & Graccielle R Cunha & Elson Asevedo & André Zugman & Maiara Zeni-Graiff & Adiel C Rios & Sumit Sethi & Pawan K Maurya & Mateus L Levandowski & Ary Gadelha & Pedro M Pan & Laura Stert, 2016. "Socioeconomic Disadvantage Moderates the Association between Peripheral Biomarkers and Childhood Psychopathology," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Jens Hoebel & Ulrike E Maske & Hajo Zeeb & Thomas Lampert, 2017. "Social Inequalities and Depressive Symptoms in Adults: The Role of Objective and Subjective Socioeconomic Status," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Kirsi Talala & Taina Huurre & Hillevi Aro & Tuija Martelin & Ritva Prättälä, 2008. "Socio-demographic Differences in Self-reported Psychological Distress Among 25- to 64-Year-Old Finns," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 323-335, April.
    6. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2009. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control, and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1417-1425, November.
    7. McLaughlin, Katie A. & Breslau, Joshua & Green, Jennifer Greif & Lakoma, Matthew D. & Sampson, Nancy A. & Zaslavsky, Alan M. & Kessler, Ronald C., 2011. "Childhood socio-economic status and the onset, persistence, and severity of DSM-IV mental disorders in a US national sample," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(7), pages 1088-1096.
    8. Susan Harkness, 2016. "The Effect of Employment on the Mental Health of Lone Mothers in the UK Before and After New Labour’s Welfare Reforms," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 763-791, September.
    9. Butterworth, Peter & Rodgers, Bryan & Windsor, Tim D., 2009. "Financial hardship, socio-economic position and depression: Results from the PATH Through Life Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 229-237, July.
    10. James Foulds & J Elisabeth Wells & Roger Mulder, 2014. "The association between material living standard and psychological distress: Results from a New Zealand population survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(8), pages 766-771, December.
    11. Sekine, Michikazu & Tatsuse, Takashi & Kagamimori, Sadanobu & Chandola, Tarani & Cable, Noriko & Marmot, Michael & Martikainen, Pekka & Lallukka, Tea & Rahkonen, Ossi & Lahelma, Eero, 2011. "Sex inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(4), pages 595-603, August.
    12. Hoffmann, Rasmus & Kröger, Hannes & Geyer, Siegfried, 2019. "Social Causation Versus Health Selection in the Life Course: Does Their Relative Importance Differ by Dimension of SES?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 141(3), pages 1341-1367.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mäkinen, Tomi & Laaksonen, Mikko & Lahelma, Eero & Rahkonen, Ossi, 2006. "Associations of childhood circumstances with physical and mental functioning in adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1831-1839, April.
    2. Muntaner, Carles & Borrell, Carme & Vanroelen, Christophe & Chung, Haejoo & Benach, Joan & Kim, Il Ho & Ng, Edwin, 2010. "Employment relations, social class and health: A review and analysis of conceptual and measurement alternatives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2130-2140, December.
    3. Shimazu, Akihito & de Jonge, Jan, 2009. "Reciprocal relations between effort-reward imbalance at work and adverse health: A three-wave panel survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 60-68, January.
    4. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2006. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of Japanese civil servants: Explanations from work and family characteristics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 430-445, July.
    5. Sekine, Michikazu & Chandola, Tarani & Martikainen, Pekka & Marmot, Michael & Kagamimori, Sadanobu, 2009. "Socioeconomic inequalities in physical and mental functioning of British, Finnish, and Japanese civil servants: Role of job demand, control, and work hours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 1417-1425, November.
    6. Arber, Sara & Fenn, Kirsty & Meadows, Robert, 2014. "Subjective financial well-being, income and health inequalities in mid and later life in Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 12-20.
    7. Brenes-Camacho, Gilbert, 2011. "Favourable changes in economic well-being and self-rated health among the elderly," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1228-1235, April.
    8. Boyle, Paul J. & Norman, Paul & Popham, Frank, 2009. "Social mobility: Evidence that it can widen health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 1835-1842, May.
    9. Beydoun, May A. & Popkin, Barry M., 2005. "The impact of socio-economic factors on functional status decline among community-dwelling older adults in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 2045-2057, May.
    10. Joan Costa-Font & Joan Gil, 2008. "Would Socio-Economic Inequalities in Depression Fade Away with Income Transfers?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 539-558, December.
    11. Arber, Sara & McKinlay, John & Adams, Ann & Marceau, Lisa & Link, Carol & O'Donnell, Amy, 2006. "Patient characteristics and inequalities in doctors' diagnostic and management strategies relating to CHD: A video-simulation experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 103-115, January.
    12. Delaruelle, Katrijn & Buffel, Veerle & Bracke, Piet, 2015. "Educational expansion and the education gradient in health: A hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 79-88.
    13. David Cantarero & Marta Pascual, 2005. "Regional Differences In Health In Spain - An Empirical Analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa05p551, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Money and mental wellbeing: A longitudinal study of medium-sized lottery wins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January.
    15. Duffy, Katie & Connolly, Sheelah & Maitre, Bertrand & Anne Nolan, 2022. "Unequal chances? Inequalities in mortality in Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS145.
    16. Maite Blázquez & Elena Cottini & Ainhoa Herrarte, 2014. "The socioeconomic gradient in health: how important is material deprivation?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(2), pages 239-264, June.
    17. Elovainio, Marko & Pulkki-Råback, Laura & Jokela, Markus & Kivimäki, Mika & Hintsanen, Mirka & Hintsa, Taina & Viikari, Jorma & Raitakari, Olli T. & Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa, 2012. "Socioeconomic status and the development of depressive symptoms from childhood to adulthood: A longitudinal analysis across 27 years of follow-up in the Young Finns study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 923-929.
    18. Garthwaite, Kayleigh & Bambra, Clare, 2017. "“How the other half live”: Lay perspectives on health inequalities in an age of austerity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 268-275.
    19. Natalia Melgar & Máximo Rossi, 2012. "A Cross‐Country Analysis of the Risk Factors for Depression at the Micro and Macro Levels," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 354-376, April.
    20. Menta, Giorgia & Lepinteur, Anthony & Clark, Andrew E. & Ghislandi, Simone & D'Ambrosio, Conchita, 2023. "Maternal genetic risk for depression and child human capital," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:63:y:2006:i:5:p:1383-1399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.