Reciprocal relations between financial hardship, sense of societal belonging and mental health for social assistance recipients

Lincy Scholten, János Betkó, Maurice Gesthuizen, Gerdine Fransen-Kuppens, Renée de Vet and Judith Wolf

Social Science & Medicine, 2023, vol. 321, issue C

Abstract: This study assesses the extent to which reciprocal relations exist between financial hardship, sense of societal belonging and mental health for social assistance recipients. This provides crucial information on how a desired change in these outcomes may be realized, and which factors to target to improve recipients' disadvantaged situation most. In order to answer our research question, we drew on three-wave panel data (N = 348) from a social experiment in the municipality of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, which ran from December 2017 to January 2020. The data were analyzed using cross-lagged panel models. Our findings show that financial hardship and sense of societal belonging did not predict change in recipients' mental health. A better mental health at baseline, in contrast, predicted an increase in sense of societal belonging one and two years later. In addition, both a better mental health and a stronger sense of societal belonging at baseline predicted a decrease in financial hardship one year later, but this relation was not found between other waves. These findings emphasize that improving recipients’ mental health may be a promising policy strategy to improve their situation.

Keywords: Poverty; Financial hardship; Belonging; Mental health; Social assistance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:321:y:2023:i:c:s0277953623001387

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115781

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