Welfare State Regimes, Gender, and Depression: A Multilevel Analysis of Middle and High Income Countries

Haejoo Chung, Edwin Ng, Selahadin Ibrahim, Björn Karlsson, Joan Benach, Albert Espelt and Carles Muntaner
Additional contact information
Haejoo Chung: Department of Health Care Management, Korea University, Seoul 136-703, Korea
Edwin Ng: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada
Selahadin Ibrahim: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada
Björn Karlsson: Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 405 30, Sweden
Joan Benach: Health Inequalities Research Group (GREDS), Employment Conditions Network (EMCONET), University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona 08003, Spain
Albert Espelt: Public Health Agency of Barcelona (ASPB), Barcelona 08023, Spain
Carles Muntaner: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Using the 2002 World Health Survey, we examine the association between welfare state regimes, gender and mental health among 26 countries classified into seven distinct regimes: Conservative, Southeast Asian, Eastern European, Latin American, Liberal, Southern/Ex-dictatorship, and Social Democratic. A two-level hierarchical model found that the odds of experiencing a brief depressive episode in the last 12 months was significantly higher for Southern/Ex- dictatorship countries than for Southeast Asian (odds ratio (OR) = 0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.05–0.27) and Eastern European (OR = 0.36, 95% CI 0.22–0.58) regimes after controlling for gender, age, education, marital status, and economic development. In adjusted interaction models, compared to Southern/Ex-dictatorship males (reference category), the odds ratios of depression were significantly lower among Southeast Asian males (OR = 0.16, 95% CI 0.08–0.34) and females (OR = 0.23, 95% CI 0.10–0.53) and Eastern European males (OR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.26–0.63) and significantly higher among females in Liberal (OR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.14–3.49) and Southern (OR = 2.42, 95% CI 1.86–3.15) regimes. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating middle-income countries into comparative welfare regime research and testing for interactions between welfare regimes and gender on mental health.

Keywords: welfare state regime; multilevel; global mental health; depression; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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