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Cited by 337Psychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionHealth and Well-being StudiesMental Health Treatment and Access

The fundamental association between mental health and life satisfaction: results from successive waves of a Canadian national survey

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Lombardo, Patrick, Jones, Wayne, Wang, Liangliang, Shen, Xin, Goldner, Elliot M.·2018·BMC Public Health
DOI 10.1186/s12889-018-5235-xPMC PMC5848433
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: A self-reported life satisfaction question is routinely used as an indicator of societal well-being. Several studies support that mental illness is an important determinant for life satisfaction and improvement of mental healthcare access therefore could have beneficial effects on a population's life satisfaction. However, only a few studies report the relationship between subjective mental health and life satisfaction. Subjective mental health is a broader concept than the presence or absence of psychopathology. In this study, we examine the strength of the association between a self-reported mental health question and self-reported life satisfaction, taking into account other relevant factors. METHODS: We conducted this analysis using successive waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) collected between 2003 and 2012. Respondents included more than 400,000 participants aged 12 and over. We extracted information on self-reported mental health, socio-demographic and other factors and examined correlation with self-reported life satisfaction using a proportional ordered logistic regression. RESULTS: Life satisfaction was strongly associated with self-reported mental health, even after simultaneously considering factors such as income, general health, and gender. The poor-self-reported mental health group had a particularly low life satisfaction. In the fair-self-reported mental health category, the odds of having a higher life satisfaction were 2.35 (95% CI 2.21 to 2.50) times higher than the odds in the poor category. In contrast, for the "between 60,000 CAD and 79,999 CAD" household income category, the odds of having a higher life satisfaction were only 1.96 (95% CI 1.90 to 2.01) times higher than the odds in the "less than 19,999 CAD" category. CONCLUSIONS: Subjective mental health contributes highly to life satisfaction, being more strongly associated than other selected previously known factors. Future studies could be useful to deepen our understanding of the interplay between subjective mental health, mental illness and life satisfaction. This may be beneficial for developing public health policies that optimize mental health promotion, illness prevention and treatment of mental disorders to enhance life satisfaction in the general population.

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  • Life satisfaction and well-being are negatively affected by mental health problems.

    “According to previous studies, life satisfaction and well-being are negatively affected by mental health problems (40, 41).”

    From Can Viewing Nature Through Windows Improve Isolated Living? A Pathway Analysis on Chinese Male Prisoners During the COVID-19 Epidemic (2021) · cites this paper as [40]

    The Discussion reports that people with poor self-rated mental health had particularly low life satisfaction, and the Background describes a robust inverse association between mental illness and life satisfaction. However, the Discussion explicitly says the results do not establish a causal relationship, so “negatively affected” overstates the evidence if read as a causal claim. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Lombardo, P., Jones, W., Wang, L., Shen, X., & Goldner, E. M.
Affiliations
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
  • Shanghai Ocean University (CN)
Corresponding author
Lombardo, Patrick
ORCID
Venue
BMC Public Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-03-12
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
342-342
ISSN
1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12889-018-5235-x
PMC
PMC5848433
OpenAlex
W2797655228
Cited by
333
References
27
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 59 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 11
FWCI
24.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Summit (Simon Fraser University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Summit (Simon Fraser University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (164907)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
subjective mental health, life satisfaction, self-rated mental health, mental illness, household income, Canadian Community Health Survey, well-being, mental health promotion, public health policy
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Mental Disorders, Canada, Child, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Young Adult, Self Report, Diagnostic Self Evaluation

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