Effects of material hardship on depression among adults in South Korea: insights from by the Korea Welfare Panel Study 2008–2017

Abstract

Background: Low socioeconomic status deemed by income-based measures is a risk factor for depression. Material hardship is commonly used as a multidimensional socioeconomic indicator to identify the struggles that low-income households encounter that are not captured by conventional income-based measures. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of material hardship on depression. Methods: We used wave 3 (2008) to wave 12 (2017) panel data collected by the Korea Welfare Panel Study. The material hardship measure included six dimensions: food, housing, medical care, paying utility bills, education, and financial hardship. Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-11). A generalised estimating equation model was applied to test the causal association between material hardship and log transferred CESD-11. Results: The first time point comprised 3,866 participants. Those who continually experienced material hardship had higher depression scores (male: β = 2.82, female: β = 3.98, p-value: