Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T01:40:53.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The distribution of wellbeing in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Liam Delaney ,
Orla Doyle ,
Kenneth McKenzie  and
Patrick Wall
Liam Delaney*
Affiliation:
UCD Geary Institute, University College Dublin
Orla Doyle
Affiliation:
UCD Geary Institute, University College Dublin
Kenneth McKenzie
Affiliation:
UCD School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin
Patrick Wall
Affiliation:
UCD Geary Institute & UCD School of Public Health and Population Science, University College Dublin, Ireland
*
*Correspondence E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives: There is a substantial knowledge gap about the distribution of mental health in community populations. The European Social Survey is particularly useful as it contains information on over 40,000 individuals, including 2,286 Irish adults. The objective of this study is to conduct a large scale statistical analysis to examine the distribution and determinants of mental wellbeing in a large representative sample of the Irish population.

Method: Analysis of the European Social Survey using robust multiple linear and non-linear regression techniques. The data-set contains WHO-Five scores and subjective wellbeing for a sample of 2,286 Irish people interviewed in their homes in 2005.

Results: Ireland has the second highest average WHO-Five score among the 22 countries in the European Social Survey. Multiple linear regression analysis across the distribution of WHO-Five reveals a wellbeing gradient largely related to education and social capital variables. A probit model examining the determinants of vulnerability to psychiatric morbidity reveals that a similar set of factors predict scores below the threshold point on the WHO-Five scale.

Conclusions: The results are consistent with marked differences in mental wellbeing across education levels and variables relating to social capital factors. Such indicators provide a useful index for policy-makers and researchers. However, much further work is needed to identify causal mechanisms generating observed differences in mental health across different socioeconomic groups.

Keywords

Psychological wellbeingWHO-Five
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , September 2009 , pp. 119 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Bijl, RV, Ravelli, A, van Zessen, G. Prevalence of psychiatric disorder in the general population: results of the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS). Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1998; 33: 587–595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Prince, M, Stewart, R, Ford, T, Hotopf, M. Practical psychiatric epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Department of Health and Children. A vision for change: Report of the expert group on mental health policy. 2006. http://www.dohc.ie/publications/pdf/vision_for_change.pdf?direct=1Google Scholar
4.Daly, A, Walsh, D, Cornish, J, et al.Activities of Irish Psychiatric Units and Hospitals 2004. Health Research Board. Mental Health Research Division, 2005.Google Scholar
5.Ayuso-Mateos, JL, Vazquez-Barquero, JL, Dowrick, C, et al.Depressive disorders in Europe: Prevalence figures from the ODIN study. British J Psychiat 2001; 179: 308–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Balanda, K, Wilde, J. Inequalities in mortality of 1989-1998. A report on all Ireland mortality data. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland, Dublin, 2001.Google Scholar
7.Barry, J, Sinclair, H, Kelly, A, O'Loughlin, R, O'Dowd, T. Inequalities in health in Ireland – Hard facts. Dublin, Department of Community Health and General Practice, Trinity College, Dublin, 2001 (http://www.tcd.ie/Health_Sciences/news/pdf/inequalities_in_health.pdfGoogle Scholar
8.Department of Health and Children. Primary care: A new direction. A framework for quality assurance in primary care. National Primary Care Steering Group – Quality Sub-Group, January 2004.Google Scholar
9.Nolan, B. Low pay and poverty. In Nolan, B, Callan, T, (Eds.) Poverty and policy in Ireland. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1994:117–129.Google Scholar
10.Nolan, B. Low pay, the earnings distribution and poverty in Ireland 1987-1994. In Salverda, W, Lucifora, C, & Nolan, B, (Eds.) Policy measures for low-wage employment in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2000.Google Scholar
11.O'Shea, E. Measuring trends in male mortality by socio-economic group in Ireland: a note on the quality of the data. The Economic and Social Review 2002; 33: 247–257.Google Scholar
12.Layte, R, Nolan, B, Whelan, CT. Reassessing income and deprivation approaches to the measurement of poverty in the Republic of Ireland. The Economic and Social Review 2001; 32:239–261.Google Scholar
13.Tedstone Doherty, D, Moran, R, Kartalova-O'Doherty, Y and Walsh, D. HRB national psychological wellbeing and distress survey: baseline results. HRB Research Series 2. Dublin: Health Research Board, 2007.Google Scholar
14.Tedstone Doherty, D, Moran, R and Kartalova-O'Doherty, Y. Psychological distress, mental health problems and use of health services in Ireland. HRB Research Series 5. Dublin: Health Research Board, 2008.Google Scholar
15.Von Rueden, U, Gosch, A, Rajmil, L, Bisegger, C, Ravens-Sieberer, U. Socioeconomic determinants of health related quality of life in childhood and adolescence: results from a European study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2006; 60: 130–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16.Inglehart, R. Gender, ageing and subjective wellbeing. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 2002; 43(3–5): 391–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Stansfeld, SA, Head, J, Marmot, MG. Explaining social class differences in depression and wellbeing. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1998; 33:1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Stansfeld, SA, Head, J, Fuhrer, R, Wardle, J, Cattell, V. Social inequalities in depressive symptoms and physical functioning in the Whitehall II study: exploring a common cause explanation. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2003; 57: 361–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Spijker, J, De Graaf, RVB, Aartjan, TF, Beekman, JO, Nolen, WA. Duration of major depressive episodes in the general population: results from The Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS). British Journal of Psychiatry 2002; 181: 208–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Caiazzo, A, Cardano, M, Cois, E, et al.Inequalities in health in Italy. Epidemiologia e Prevenzione 2004; 28(3): 1–161.Google ScholarPubMed
21.Ferrie, JE, Shipley, MJ, Stansfeld, SA, Davey Smith, G, Marmot, M. Future uncertainty and socio-economic inequalities in health: The Whitehall II study. Social Science & Medicine 2003; 57: 637–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Ferrie, JE, Shipley, MJ, Davey Smith, G, Stansfeld, SA. Marmot, M. Change in health inequalities among British civil servants: The Whitehall II study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2002; 56: 922–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Krokstad, S, Kunst, AE, Westin, S, Trends in health inequalities by educational level in a Norweigan total population study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2002; 56: 375–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A. Income and wellbeing: an empirical analysis of the comparison income effect. Journal of Public Economics 2005; 89: 997–1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Sweeney, P, McFarlin, D. Social comparisons and income satisfaction: a cross-national examination. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology 2004; 77:149–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Clark, AE. Oswald, A. Satisfaction and comparison income. Journal of Public Economics 1996;61:359–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Luttmer, E. Neighbours as negatives: relative earnings and wellbeing. Quarterly Journal of Economics 2005; 120: 963–1002.Google Scholar
28.Clark, A. Unemployment as a social norm: Psychological evidence from panel data. Journal of Labour Economics 2003; 21: 323–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Winkelmann, R. Unemployment, social capital and subjective wellbeing. Discussion Paper No.2346. University of Zurich & IZA Bon, Institute for the Study of Labour, 2006.Google Scholar
30.Nordenmark, M, Strandh, M. Towards a sociological understanding of mental wellbeing among the unemployed: The role of economic and psychosocial factors. Sociology 1999; 33: 577–597.Google Scholar
31.Diener, E, Seligman, MEP. Beyond Money: Toward an Economy of Wellbeing. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 2004; 5: 1–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32.DeSilva, MJ, Huttly, SR, Harpham, T, Kenward, MG. Social capital and mental health: A comparative analysis of four low income countries. Social Science and Medicine 2007; 64: 5–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33.DeSilva, MJ, McKenzie, K, Harpham, T, Huttly, SRA.. Social capital and mental illness: a systematic review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2005; 59: 619–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34.Haller, M, Hadler, M. How social relations and structures can produce happiness and unhappiness: an international comparative analysis. Social Indicators Research 2006; 75: 169–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35.Helliwell, J. Putnam, RD. The social context of wellbeing. In Huppert, FA, Keverne, B, Baylis, N (eds). The science of well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
36.Jowell, R. and the Central co-ordinating team. European Social Survey Technical Report. National Center for Social Research, London. 2005.Google Scholar
37.Billiet, J, Pleysier, S. Response based quality assessment in the ESS- Round 2. An update for 26 countries. Leuven: K.U.Leuven, Center of Sociological Research (CeSO), 2007.Google Scholar
38.World Health Organisation. Wellbeing measures in primary healthcare/The DEPCARE project: Report on a WHO meeting, Stockholm, Sweden 12-13 February, 1998. WHO Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar
39.Bech, P, Gudex, C, Johansen, KS: The WHO (Ten) Wellbeing Index: validation in diabetes. Psychother Psychosom 65:183–190, 1996.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40.Bech, P, Male depression: stress and aggression as pathways to major depression. In: Dawson, A. and Tylee, A., Editors, Depression – Social and Economic Timebomb, British Medical Journal Books, London 2001: 63–66.Google Scholar
41.Henkel, V, Mergl, R, Kohnen, R, Allgaier, AK, Moller, HJ, Hegerl, U, Use of brief depression screening tools in primary care: consideration of heterogeneity in performance in different patient groups, General Hospital Psychiatry 2004; 26: 190–198CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
42.Heun, R, Burkart, M, Maier, W, Bech, P, Internal and external validity of the WHO Wellbeing Scale in the elderly general population, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 1999; 99: 171–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
43.Bech, P, Raabaek Olsen, L, Kjoller, M. Rasmussen, NK. Measuring wellbeing rather than the absence of distress symptoms: a comparison of the SF-36 Mental Health subscale and the WHO-Five wellbeing scale. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 2003; 12: 85–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
44.Bonsignore, M, Barkow, K, Jessen, F. Heun, R.. Validity of the five-item WHO Wellbeing Index (WHO-Five) in an elderly population. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 2001; 251 (2): 27–31.Google Scholar
45.Lowe, B, Spitzer, RL, Grafe, K, Kroenke, K, Quenter, A, Zipfel, S, Buchholz, C, Witte, S, Herzog, W. Comparative validity of three screening questionnaires for DSM-4 depressive disorders and physicians' diagnoses. Journal of Affective Disorders 2004; 78: 131–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
46.McLanahan, S, Adams, J. Parenthood and psychological wellbeing, Annual Review of Sociology 1987; 13: 237–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47.Brebner, J, Donaldson, J, Kirby, N, Ward, L. Relationship between happiness and personality. Personality and Individual Differences 1995; 19: 251–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
48.Chan, R. Joseph, S. Dimensions of personality, domains of aspiration and subjective wellbeing. Personality and Individual Differences 2000; 28: 347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
49.Deneve, KM. Cooper, H. The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective wellbeing, Psychological Bulletin 1998; 124: 197–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar