Socioeconomic inequalities and mental stress in individual and regional level: a twenty one cities study in China
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: This study will examine explanatory variables including socioeconomic inequalities related to mental stress at both the individual and regional level. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional multistage sampling process was used to obtain participants. Data on mental stress and individual socioeconomic status were gathered via face to face interview. Regional variables were retrieved from a national database. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to assess socioeconomic variances in mental stress. RESULTS: Among the 16,866 participants, 27.2% reported severe levels of mental stress (95% CI: 19.4%-35.1%). Multilevel regression analysis indicated that lower individual educational attainment and income, and lower regional Per Capita GDP was associated with mental stress. The results also indicated that managers, clerks, and professional workers manifested higher stress levels than those in other occupations. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of this study individual and regional socioeconomic inequalities in China are associated with mental stress.
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Higher rates of mental illness occur in groups with lower socioeconomic status.
“The relationship between income status and mental health has been well-documented as there are higher rates of mental illness in groups with lower socioeconomic status [53–55].”
From Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 among Children and College Students: A Systematic Review (2023) · cites this paper as [55]
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- Authors
- Wang, H., Yang, X. Y., Yang, T., Cottrell, R. R., Yu, L., Feng, X., & Jiang, S.
- Affiliations
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- University of North Carolina Wilmington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yang, Tingzhong
- Venue
- International Journal for Equity in Health
- Published
- 2015-03-07
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 25-25
- ISSN
- 1475-9276 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4357049
- OpenAlex
- W2138553584
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 2.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal for Equity in Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Saint Louis University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (71490733, 71473221)
- Zhejiang University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Employment and Welfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- psychological stress, socioeconomic disparities, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, income, GDP per capita, occupational stress, regional disparities, urban residents, China
- MeSH terms
- Adult, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Social Class, Stress, Psychological, Urban Population, Logistic Models, Young Adult
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