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The fundamental association between mental health and life satisfaction: results from successive waves of a Canadian national survey
Open accessAbstract
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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“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]
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Metadata
- 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
- Venue
- BMC Public Health
- Published
- 2018-03-12
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 342-342
- ISSN
- 1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
- 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
- gold
- doi.org
- 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
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › 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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