Mental Health and Happiness: Evidence From the U.S. Data

Nazgol Makki and Madhu S. Mohanty

The American Economist, 2019, vol. 64, issue 2, 197-215

Abstract: The current study examines the role of poor mental health characterized by depression in the determination of an individual’s happiness measured by self-satisfaction and job satisfaction. Using two samples from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 (NLSY79) and following an ordered probit approach, the study demonstrates that, other variables held constant, an individual suffering from mental depression is likely to have lower levels of self-satisfaction and job satisfaction than those with better mental health. The significance of this variable in both self-satisfaction and job satisfaction regressions indicates that metal health status is an important covariate of an individual’s overall well-being, and should not, therefore, be omitted when estimating relevant happiness equations. JEL Classification Codes : A12, J28, Z13

Keywords: job satisfaction; self-satisfaction; mental health; depression; ordered probit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:amerec:v:64:y:2019:i:2:p:197-215

DOI: 10.1177/0569434518822266

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