The Impact of Socioeconomic Inequality on Mental Health Among Adolescents in Qazvin, Iran: Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Method

Overview

Journal Med J Islam Repub Iran

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2023 Jul 10

PMID 37426485

Authors

Elahe Jafari

Mohammadreza Pirmoradi

Elham Mohebbi

Manar Ahmed Kamal

Zahra Hosseinkhani

Majid Meshkini

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Mental health is integral to public health in adolescents. Although previous studies have shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with mental disorders (MD), it is unclear which mental health domains are most important. Thus, our study aimed to investigate the associations between 5 domains of mental disorder and SES inequality in adolescents.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among adolescents (N = 1724). Associations between SES inequality with mental disorders, such as emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer relationship problems, and prosocial behavior, were examined. We used the concentration index (CI) to determine inequality. The gap between the low and high socioeconomic groups was decomposed into its determinants using the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method.

Results: Mental health's overall CI was -0.085 ( ˂ 0.001). The emotional problem was primarily caused by SES inequality (-0.094 [ = 0.004]). Decomposition of the gap between the 2 economic groups showed that physical activity, school performance, exercise, parents' smoking status, and gender were the most important determinants of inequality.

Conclusion: SES inequality plays a vital role in adolescents' mental health. It seems that the emotional problem domain of mental health might be more amenable to interventions than other domains.

Citing Articles

The mediating role of subjective social status in the association between objective socioeconomic status and mental health status: evidence from Iranian national data.

Nasirpour N, Jafari K, Habibi Asgarabad M, Salehi M, Amin-Esmaeili M, Rahimi-Movaghar A Front Psychiatry. 2024; 15:1427993.

PMID: 39403319 PMC: 11471600. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1427993.

Contrasting socioeconomic inequality with noncommunicable diseases: Insights from a population-based survey using the concentration index in Kong cohort study.

Mouseli A, Sharafi M, Mastaneh Z, Shiri M Health Sci Rep. 2023; 6(11):e1682.

PMID: 37936619 PMC: 10625898. DOI: 10.1002/hsr2.1682.

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