ArticleBMJ open2018
Trends in gender and socioeconomic inequalities in mental health following the Great Recession and subsequent austerity policies: a repeat cross-sectional analysis of the Health Surveys for England.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How do income changes impact on mental health and wellbeing for working-age adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2022Pooled it
- Trends in depressive symptoms in Germany's adult population 2008-2023.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- The effect of the 'Every Mind Matters' campaign on mental health literacy: the moderating roles of socioeconomic status and ethnicity.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Decomposition and comparative analysis of differences in anxiety between urban and rural Chinese adults: a national cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Mental health of UK youth following the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance in England: a natural experiment study using Understanding Society data.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Common mental disorders in São Paulo city, 2003-2015: population-based serial cross-sectional panel studies.Epidemiologia e servicos de saude : revista do Sistema Unico de Saude do Brasil · 2025Article
- Long-term inequalities in health among older Mexican adults: An outcome-wide analysis.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Short-term impacts of Universal Basic Income on population mental health inequalities in the UK: A microsimulation modelling study.PLoS medicine · 2024Article
- Inflation hardship, gender, and mental health.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Trends in psychological distress in Great Britain, 1991-2019: evidence from three representative surveys.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2023Article
- An Item-Response Mapping from General Health Questionnaire Responses to EQ-5D-3L Using a General Population Sample from England.Applied health economics and health policy · 2023Article
- Bearing the burden of austerity: how do changing mortality rates in the UK compare between men and women?Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2022Article
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and previous pandemics, epidemics and economic crises on mental health: systematic review.BJPsych open · 2022Review
- An Age-Period-Cohort Approach to Analyse Late-Life Depression Prevalence in Six European Countries, 2004-2016.European journal of population = Revue europeenne de demographie · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on mental health: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in England and Scotland.Health economics · 2022Article
- Why are drug-related deaths among women increasing in Scotland? A mixed-methods analysis of possible explanations.Drugs (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Suspension of social welfare services and mental health outcomes for women during the COVID-19 pandemic in a peripheral neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- A Longitudinal Nationwide Study of Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Gendering the crisis: austerity and the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.Economia politica (Bologna, Italy) · 2022Article
- The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on socioeconomic inequality in psychological distress in the UK.Health economics · 2021Article
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3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveIt is known that mental health deteriorated following the 2008 global financial crisis, and that subsequent UK austerity policies post-2010 disproportionately impacted women and those in deprived areas. We aimed to assess whether gender and socioeconomic inequalities in poor mental health have changed since the onset of austerity policies.
designRepeat cross-sectional analysis of survey data.
settingEngland.
participantsNationally and regionally representative samples of the working-age population (25-64 years) from the Health Survey for England (1991-2014). OUTCOME MEASURES: Population-level poor mental health was measured by General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ) caseness, stratified by gender and socioeconomic position (area-level deprivation and highest educational attainment).
resultsThe prevalence of age-adjusted male GHQ caseness increased by 5.9% (95% CI 3.2% to 8.5%, p<0.001) from 2008 to 2009 in the immediate postrecession period, but recovered to prerecession levels after 2010. In women, there was little change in 2009 or 2010, but an increase of 3.0% (95% CI 1.0% to 5.1%, p=0.004) in 2012 compared with 2008 following the onset of austerity. Estimates were largely unchanged after further adjustment for socioeconomic position, employment status and household income as potential mediators. Relative socioeconomic inequalities in GHQ caseness narrowed from 2008 to 2010 immediately following the recession, with Relative Index of Inequality falling from 2.28 (95% CI 1.89 to 2.76, p<0.001) to 1.85 (95% CI 1.43 to 2.38, p<0.001), but returned to prerecession levels during austerity.
conclusionsGender inequalities in poor mental health narrowed following the Great Recession but widened during austerity, creating the widest gender gap since 1994. Socioeconomic inequalities in poor mental health narrowed immediately postrecession, but this trend may now be reversing. Austerity policies could contribute to widening mental health inequalities.
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