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A longitudinal analysis of mental health mobility in Britain
Author(s) -
Hauck Katharina,
Rice Nigel
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.939
Subject(s) - british household panel survey , mental health , disadvantaged , socioeconomic status , psychology , general health questionnaire , test (biology) , social mobility , mental illness , inequality , psychiatry , gerontology , demographic economics , medicine , environmental health , sociology , economics , economic growth , population , social science , paleontology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biology
This paper is concerned with quantifying the level of mental health mobility in the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). We investigate whether the extent of intertemporal fluctuations in mental health is different across categories of socio‐economic group such as income quintiles, educational attainment and social class. Our measure of mental health is the 12‐item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) that serves as a self‐administered screening test aimed at detecting psychiatric disorders. Using 11 waves of the BHPS and a variety of methods we show there is much mobility in mental health from one wave to the next. Further the extent of mobility varies across socio‐economic categories with greatest persistence observed in more disadvantaged groups. In general, these groups suffer poorer mental health and experience more periods of ill‐health. Our results have implications for the design of appropriate prevention policies targeting mental illness within different risk groups, and also for the measurement of long‐term inequalities in mental health across socioeconomic groups. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.