Cargando…

Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries

BACKGROUND: Macro-level factors (MF) such as wealth, justice and freedom measured with objective country-level indicators (objective MF), for instance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), have been investigated in relation to health and well-being, but rarely in connection with depression, anxiety and...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Scholten, Saskia, Velten, Julia, Neher, Torsten, Margraf, Jürgen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5769050/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29349252
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.07.010
_version_ 1783292826808745984
author Scholten, Saskia
Velten, Julia
Neher, Torsten
Margraf, Jürgen
author_facet Scholten, Saskia
Velten, Julia
Neher, Torsten
Margraf, Jürgen
author_sort Scholten, Saskia
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Macro-level factors (MF) such as wealth, justice and freedom measured with objective country-level indicators (objective MF), for instance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), have been investigated in relation to health and well-being, but rarely in connection with depression, anxiety and stress subsumed as poor mental health. Also, a combination of different objective MF and of how individuals perceive those MF (subjective MF) has not been taken into consideration. In the present study, we combined subjective and objective measures of wealth, justice and freedom and examined their relationship with poor mental health. METHOD: Population-based interviews were conducted in France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.A. (n ≈ 1000 per country). GDP, GINI coefficient, Justice Index and Freedom Index were used as objective MF, whereas subjective MF were perceived wealth, justice and freedom measured at the individual level. Poor mental health was assessed as a combination of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. RESULTS: In a random-intercept-model, GINI coefficient and Freedom Index were significant positive country-level, and perceived wealth, justice, and freedom significant negative individual-level predictors of symptoms of poor mental health. CONCLUSION: Multiple subjective and objective MF should be combined to assess the macrosystem’s relationship with poor mental health more precisely. The relationship between MF and poor mental health indicates that the macrosystem should be taken into account as relevant context for mental health problems, too.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5769050
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher Elsevier
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-57690502018-01-18 Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries Scholten, Saskia Velten, Julia Neher, Torsten Margraf, Jürgen SSM Popul Health Article BACKGROUND: Macro-level factors (MF) such as wealth, justice and freedom measured with objective country-level indicators (objective MF), for instance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), have been investigated in relation to health and well-being, but rarely in connection with depression, anxiety and stress subsumed as poor mental health. Also, a combination of different objective MF and of how individuals perceive those MF (subjective MF) has not been taken into consideration. In the present study, we combined subjective and objective measures of wealth, justice and freedom and examined their relationship with poor mental health. METHOD: Population-based interviews were conducted in France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.A. (n ≈ 1000 per country). GDP, GINI coefficient, Justice Index and Freedom Index were used as objective MF, whereas subjective MF were perceived wealth, justice and freedom measured at the individual level. Poor mental health was assessed as a combination of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. RESULTS: In a random-intercept-model, GINI coefficient and Freedom Index were significant positive country-level, and perceived wealth, justice, and freedom significant negative individual-level predictors of symptoms of poor mental health. CONCLUSION: Multiple subjective and objective MF should be combined to assess the macrosystem’s relationship with poor mental health more precisely. The relationship between MF and poor mental health indicates that the macrosystem should be taken into account as relevant context for mental health problems, too. Elsevier 2017-07-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5769050/ /pubmed/29349252 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.07.010 Text en © 2017 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Scholten, Saskia
Velten, Julia
Neher, Torsten
Margraf, Jürgen
Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title_full Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title_fullStr Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title_full_unstemmed Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title_short Wealth, justice and freedom: Objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
title_sort wealth, justice and freedom: objective and subjective measures predicting poor mental health in a study across eight countries
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5769050/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29349252
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.07.010
work_keys_str_mv AT scholtensaskia wealthjusticeandfreedomobjectiveandsubjectivemeasurespredictingpoormentalhealthinastudyacrosseightcountries
AT veltenjulia wealthjusticeandfreedomobjectiveandsubjectivemeasurespredictingpoormentalhealthinastudyacrosseightcountries
AT nehertorsten wealthjusticeandfreedomobjectiveandsubjectivemeasurespredictingpoormentalhealthinastudyacrosseightcountries
AT margrafjurgen wealthjusticeandfreedomobjectiveandsubjectivemeasurespredictingpoormentalhealthinastudyacrosseightcountries