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The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis

Background: Higher income and education and lower income inequality in a neighbourhood have been shown to be related to better mental health outcome in developed countries. However, it is not clear whether these factors would affect the subjective well-being of the elderly, especially in a setting w...

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Autores principales: Lai, Eric TC, Yu, Ruby, Woo, Jean
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32079186
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041271
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author Lai, Eric TC
Yu, Ruby
Woo, Jean
author_facet Lai, Eric TC
Yu, Ruby
Woo, Jean
author_sort Lai, Eric TC
collection PubMed
description Background: Higher income and education and lower income inequality in a neighbourhood have been shown to be related to better mental health outcome in developed countries. However, it is not clear whether these factors would affect the subjective well-being of the elderly, especially in a setting with recent rapid economic development. Methods: This study was conducted in 80 community centres with a total of 7552 community-dwelling elderly (mean age 75.9 years (SD = 7.79), 79% female) in Hong Kong. Income at individual level was measured as perceived disposable income. Education level was also collected. At district level, income was measured by district median household income and education was measured as the proportion of the population with no formal schooling. Income inequality was quantified using Gini coefficients. Low subjective well-being was defined as any one or a combination of the following: not satisfied with life, no meaning of life and being unhappy (Likert scale ≤ 2). Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the association of income, education and income inequality and low subjective well-being. Results: We found that 15.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 14.5 to 16.1) of the elderly have low subjective well-being. Compared with elderly who reported a very adequate disposable income, those who reported a very inadequate disposable income are at increased risk of low subjective well-being (OR=5.08, 95%CI: 2.44 to 10.59). Compared with elderly with tertiary education, those with no formal schooling were at higher risk (OR=1.60, 95%CI 1.22 to 2.09). Income inequality was not related to subjective well-being. Conclusions: Elderly with inadequate disposable income and lower education level are more likely to suffer from low subjective well-being. At the neighbourhood level, income inequality was not related to subjective well-being. However, the relationships between neighbourhood income and education level and individuals’ subjective well-being are not clear.
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spelling pubmed-70683582020-03-19 The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis Lai, Eric TC Yu, Ruby Woo, Jean Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Higher income and education and lower income inequality in a neighbourhood have been shown to be related to better mental health outcome in developed countries. However, it is not clear whether these factors would affect the subjective well-being of the elderly, especially in a setting with recent rapid economic development. Methods: This study was conducted in 80 community centres with a total of 7552 community-dwelling elderly (mean age 75.9 years (SD = 7.79), 79% female) in Hong Kong. Income at individual level was measured as perceived disposable income. Education level was also collected. At district level, income was measured by district median household income and education was measured as the proportion of the population with no formal schooling. Income inequality was quantified using Gini coefficients. Low subjective well-being was defined as any one or a combination of the following: not satisfied with life, no meaning of life and being unhappy (Likert scale ≤ 2). Multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the association of income, education and income inequality and low subjective well-being. Results: We found that 15.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 14.5 to 16.1) of the elderly have low subjective well-being. Compared with elderly who reported a very adequate disposable income, those who reported a very inadequate disposable income are at increased risk of low subjective well-being (OR=5.08, 95%CI: 2.44 to 10.59). Compared with elderly with tertiary education, those with no formal schooling were at higher risk (OR=1.60, 95%CI 1.22 to 2.09). Income inequality was not related to subjective well-being. Conclusions: Elderly with inadequate disposable income and lower education level are more likely to suffer from low subjective well-being. At the neighbourhood level, income inequality was not related to subjective well-being. However, the relationships between neighbourhood income and education level and individuals’ subjective well-being are not clear. MDPI 2020-02-17 2020-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7068358/ /pubmed/32079186 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041271 Text en © 2020 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
Lai, Eric TC
Yu, Ruby
Woo, Jean
The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title_full The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title_fullStr The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title_full_unstemmed The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title_short The Associations of Income, Education and Income Inequality and Subjective Well-Being among Elderly in Hong Kong—A Multilevel Analysis
title_sort associations of income, education and income inequality and subjective well-being among elderly in hong kong—a multilevel analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068358/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32079186
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041271
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