title: Impact of the gap between socioeconomic stratum and subjective social class on depressive symptoms: unique insights from a longitudinal analysis.
abstract: Our objective was to investigate whether gaps between socioeconomic stratum and subjective social class affect the prevalence of depressive symptoms. We collected data from the Korean Health Panel Survey, years 2009 and 2011, and performed a longitudinal analysis of 12,357 individuals at baseline (2009), estimating the prevalence of depressive symptoms among individuals with disparate socioeconomic stratum (High, Middle, or Low household income and education level, respectively) and subjective social class (High, Middle, or Low). The odds ratio for depressive symptoms among individuals with High household income and High social class, or Low household income and Low social class, was 0.537 and 1.877, respectively (p<0.0001), and that among individuals with High education level and High social class, or Low education and Low social class, was 0.700 and 1.597, respectively (p: 0.001, p<0.0001, respectively). The likelihood of having depressive symptoms increased within each level of income and education, as the subjective social class decreased from High to Low. The adjusted effect of the gap between socioeconomic stratum and subjective social class on depressive symptoms deteriorated, as a whole, across the socioeconomic spectrum. The gap between socioeconomic stratum and perceived position in the social hierarchy explains a substantial part of inequalities in the prevalence of depressive symptoms. It is important to consider the impact of discrepancies between different measures of socioeconomic well-being on depressive symptoms rather than looking at the subjective social class alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Hospital Management, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jaeyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ecpark@yuhs.ac.
authors.forename: Eun-Cheol
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Depressive symptoms; Social class; Socioeconomic stratum