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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 6/2015

01-06-2015 | Original Paper

How financial hardship is associated with the onset of mental health problems over time

Authors: Kim M. Kiely, Liana S. Leach, Sarah C. Olesen, Peter Butterworth

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 6/2015

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Abstract

Purpose

Poor mental health has been consistently linked with the experience of financial hardship and poverty. However, the temporal association between these factors must be clarified before hardship alleviation can be considered as an effective mental health promotion and prevention strategy. We examined whether the longitudinal associations between financial hardship and mental health problems are best explained by an individual’s current or prior experience of hardship, or their underlying vulnerability.

Methods

We analysed nine waves (years: 2001–2010) of nationally representative panel data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (n = 11,134). Two components of financial hardship (deprivation and cash-flow problems) and income poverty were coded into time-varying and time-invariant variables reflecting the contemporaneous experience of hardship (i.e., current), the prior experience of hardship (lagged/12 months), and any experience of hardship during the study period (vulnerability). Multilevel, mixed-effect logistic regression models tested the associations between these measures and mental health.

Results

Respondents who reported deprivation and cash-flow problems had greater risk of mental health problems than those who did not. Individuals vulnerable to hardship had greater risk of mental health problems, even at the times they did not report hardship. However, their risk of mental health problems was greater on occasions when they did experience hardship.

Conclusions

The results are consistent with the argument that economic and social programmes that address and prevent hardship may promote community mental health.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
How financial hardship is associated with the onset of mental health problems over time
Authors
Kim M. Kiely
Liana S. Leach
Sarah C. Olesen
Peter Butterworth
Publication date
01-06-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 6/2015
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-015-1027-0

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