Abstract
BackgroundLow socioeconomic status deemed by income-based measures is a risk factor for depression. Material hardship is commonly used as a multidimensional socioeconomic indicator to identify the struggles that low-income households encounter that are not captured by conventional income-based measures. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of material hardship on depression.MethodsWe used wave 3 (2008) to wave 12 (2017) panel data collected by the Korea Welfare Panel Study. The material hardship measure included six dimensions: food, housing, medical care, paying utility bills, education, and financial hardship. Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-11). A generalised estimating equation model was applied to test the causal association between material hardship and log transferred CESD-11.ResultsThe first time point comprised 3,866 participants. Those who continually experienced material hardship had higher depression scores (male: β = 2.82, female: β = 3.98, p-value: < .0001). Food hardship was the most critical risk factor (male: β = 3.29, female: β = 4.05, p-value: < .0001).ConclusionsMaterial hardship is associated with increased risk of depression, especially food hardship. We should consider guaranteeing food security, and community and policy makers should consider material hardship in their approach when identifying low-income populations at high risk for depression.
Highlights
Low socioeconomic status deemed by income-based measures is a risk factor for depression
The generalised estimating equation (GEE) model considers the correlation within the subjects to yield the regression coefficient (β), the standard error of the coefficient (SE), and the corresponding p-value by doing We evaluated whether the material hardship (MH) transition in each prior year was associated with their depression in each subsequent year over two consecutive years from 2008 and 2009 till 2016 and 2017
In conclusion, this study identified the effects of MH on depression by gender, and the results were significant
Summary
Low socioeconomic status deemed by income-based measures is a risk factor for depression. Material hardship is commonly used as a multidimensional socioeconomic indicator to identify the struggles that low-income households encounter that are not captured by conventional income-based measures. Socioeconomic status, which is typically measured by income, has the advantage of providing an objective measure and definition of low-income households. Income can overlook the daily struggles that these households may experience and only indirectly estimate what low income means for people [5, 6]. As numerous studies have highlighted various limitations of the one-dimensional and conventional simplistic income-based measures of socioeconomic status, material hardship (MH) was introduced to capture the multidimensional aspect of the financial challenges people encounter daily [7]
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