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Is Income Inequality ‘Toxic for Mental Health’? An Ecological Study on Municipal Level Risk Factors for Depression

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  • Heikki Hiilamo

Abstract

Most inequality research on the relationship between inequality and mental health has focused on cross-country variation. Findings from within-country data are mixed. We examined whether changes in municipal Gini index or in the share of people living in relative poverty were linked to changes in the use of antidepressants in several Finnish municipalities between 1995 and 2010. We found that more young adult females used antidepressants in municipalities where relative poverty had increased. Changes in municipal-level Gini index were not positively associated with changes in the use of antidepressants in the municipalities between 1995 and 2010. However, fewer elderly females used antidepressants in municipalities where the Gini index increased. In addition, more young adults used antidepressants in municipalities where the number of those not being educated or trained had also increased. An increase in the number of persons over 65 years of age living alone was positively associated with an increase in the use of antidepressants among elderly females.

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  • Heikki Hiilamo, 2014. "Is Income Inequality ‘Toxic for Mental Health’? An Ecological Study on Municipal Level Risk Factors for Depression," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0092775
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092775
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wilkinson, Richard G. & Pickett, Kate E., 2007. "The problems of relative deprivation: Why some societies do better than others," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1965-1978, November.
    2. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10510 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Henderson, Claire & Liu, Xinhua & Diez Roux, Ana V. & Link, Bruce G. & Hasin, Deborah, 2004. "The effects of US state income inequality and alcohol policies on symptoms of depression and alcohol dependence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 565-575, February.
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    1. Saqib Amin & Marko Korhonen & Sanna Huikari, 2023. "Unemployment and Mental Health: An Instrumental Variable Analysis Using Municipal-level Data for Finland for 2002–2019," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 627-643, April.
    2. Esteban Sánchez-Moreno & Lorena Gallardo-Peralta, 2021. "From Income Inequalities to Social Exclusion: The Impact of the Great Recession on Self-Rated Health in Spain During the Onset of the Economic Crisis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.

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