FUNDAMENTAL FACTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH 2016

3.4 Inequality as a determinant
of mental health
• A 2014 study in England found that,
for mothers of lower socioeconomic
status, the negative mental
health effects of living in a poorer
While an individual’s socioeconomic
neighbourhood were greater than
status affects their mental health (those
any positive mental health effects
of lower status are more likely to have
of socioeconomic congruity in
mental health problems than those of
the neighbourhood. That is, any
higher status), national levels of income
benefits of socioeconomic congruity
inequality also play an important role in
may have been counteracted by
determining the prevalence of mental
neighbourhood deprivation.
illness across societies, especially in highincome
countries. 391
• Similarly, a 2013 study of
397
neighbourhoods in Wales found
• Preliminary analysis of data from
WHO’s World Mental Health Surveys
has found that rates of mental illness
increase as countries get richer, in
contrast to rates of physical illness
and mortality. 392
that a neighbourhood’s level
of deprivation compared to
the national standard was a
more significant determinant of
residents’ mental health than
income differences within a
• A study of nine high-income
countries found that higher levels of
inequality (i.e. income differences)
are associated with increased
levels of mental health problems,
particularly anxiety disorders,
impulse-control disorders and
severe mental health problems. 393
neighbourhood. 398
• The negative effect of
unemployment on mental health
has been found to be stronger in
countries with more unequal income
distributions (controlling for level
of economic development). 394 It has
been suggested that inequality may
affect mental health by reducing
social capital (i.e. the links between
individuals – links that bind and
connect people within and between
communities), 395 or by increasing
‘status anxiety’ (i.e. concerns about
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