Associations of relative income deprivation with perceived happiness and self-rated health among the Hong Kong Chinese population

Chee Hon Chan, Ho Kit Wong and Paul Siu Fai Yip ()
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Chee Hon Chan: The University of Hong Kong
Ho Kit Wong: The University of Hong Kong
Paul Siu Fai Yip: The University of Hong Kong

International Journal of Public Health, 2017, vol. 62, issue 6, No 10, 697-707

Abstract: Abstract Objectives To investigate the association of relative income deprivation (RID) with perceived happiness and self-rated health in Hong Kong. Methods We measured RID on Yitzhaki indices constructed using multiple reference groups and used multilevel ordinal logistic regression models to assess its linkages with the two outcomes, using data from 6272 respondents from a large-scale representative household survey. Results Among the overall population, increased RID was found to be consistently associated with reduced perceived happiness, even after adjusting for respondents’ level of absolute income and other socio-demographic covariates; however, there were no consistent associations between RID and self-rated health. In subgroup analysis, we observed significant linkages between RID and self-rated health only among men, the middle and older age ranges, and among those with less education and those not engaged in economic activities. Conclusions Our findings suggest that RID is adversely associated with perceived happiness. However, its negative linkage with self-rated health is less clear. The weak tie between RID and self-rated health may relate to the Hong Kong context, where the public health system is relatively equitable and has multiple pro-poor health policies.

Keywords: Relative income deprivation; Happiness; Self-rated health; Social inequalities; Chinese (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s00038-017-0953-x

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