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Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women

Socioeconomic status has shown to be associated with subjective health, well-being, satisfaction with overall life and estimation of happiness. The body of research concerning the question of whether higher economic status leads to better health and well-being are mostly from developed countries. Th...

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Autores principales: He, Zhifei, Cheng, Zhaohui, Bishwajit, Ghose, Zou, Dongsheng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122836
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author He, Zhifei
Cheng, Zhaohui
Bishwajit, Ghose
Zou, Dongsheng
author_facet He, Zhifei
Cheng, Zhaohui
Bishwajit, Ghose
Zou, Dongsheng
author_sort He, Zhifei
collection PubMed
description Socioeconomic status has shown to be associated with subjective health, well-being, satisfaction with overall life and estimation of happiness. The body of research concerning the question of whether higher economic status leads to better health and well-being are mostly from developed countries. The present study was therefore conducted among women in Nepal with an aim to investigate whether household wealth status is associated with satisfaction about (1) self-reported health, (2) happiness, and (3) life overall. Methods: Subjects were 5226 Nepalese women aged between 15 and 24 years. Cross-sectional data were extracted from round 5 of the Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (NMICS), conducted in 2014, and analyzed using chi-square tests of association, bivariate and multivariable regression methods. Results: Wealth status was significantly associated with satisfaction about health, estimation of happiness and satisfaction. Compared with women in the poorest households, the odds of positive estimation about overall happiness were respectively 30% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.653–3.190), 80% higher for middle (p = 0.001; 95% CI = 1.294–2.522), 64% higher for richer (p = 0.006; 95% CI = 1.155–2.326), and 40% higher for richest households. The odds of reporting satisfaction about life were respectively 97% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.680–2.317), 41% higher for middle (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.165–1.715), 62% higher for richer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.313–2.003), and 31% higher for richest households (p = 0.043; 95% CI = 1.008–1.700). Conclusion: Our results conclude that women in households with lower wealth status report poorer subjective health, quality of life and happiness. However, the findings need to be interpreted in light of the existing sociocultural conditions mediating the role of household wealth status on women’s lives.
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spelling pubmed-63133992019-06-17 Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women He, Zhifei Cheng, Zhaohui Bishwajit, Ghose Zou, Dongsheng Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Socioeconomic status has shown to be associated with subjective health, well-being, satisfaction with overall life and estimation of happiness. The body of research concerning the question of whether higher economic status leads to better health and well-being are mostly from developed countries. The present study was therefore conducted among women in Nepal with an aim to investigate whether household wealth status is associated with satisfaction about (1) self-reported health, (2) happiness, and (3) life overall. Methods: Subjects were 5226 Nepalese women aged between 15 and 24 years. Cross-sectional data were extracted from round 5 of the Nepal Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (NMICS), conducted in 2014, and analyzed using chi-square tests of association, bivariate and multivariable regression methods. Results: Wealth status was significantly associated with satisfaction about health, estimation of happiness and satisfaction. Compared with women in the poorest households, the odds of positive estimation about overall happiness were respectively 30% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.653–3.190), 80% higher for middle (p = 0.001; 95% CI = 1.294–2.522), 64% higher for richer (p = 0.006; 95% CI = 1.155–2.326), and 40% higher for richest households. The odds of reporting satisfaction about life were respectively 97% higher for poorer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.680–2.317), 41% higher for middle (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.165–1.715), 62% higher for richer (p < 0.0001; 95% CI = 1.313–2.003), and 31% higher for richest households (p = 0.043; 95% CI = 1.008–1.700). Conclusion: Our results conclude that women in households with lower wealth status report poorer subjective health, quality of life and happiness. However, the findings need to be interpreted in light of the existing sociocultural conditions mediating the role of household wealth status on women’s lives. MDPI 2018-12-12 2018-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6313399/ /pubmed/30545142 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122836 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
He, Zhifei
Cheng, Zhaohui
Bishwajit, Ghose
Zou, Dongsheng
Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title_full Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title_fullStr Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title_full_unstemmed Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title_short Wealth Inequality as a Predictor of Subjective Health, Happiness and Life Satisfaction among Nepalese Women
title_sort wealth inequality as a predictor of subjective health, happiness and life satisfaction among nepalese women
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122836
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