This document discusses a study that examines the relationship between income and mental health. The study uses survey data from over 7,700 American adults to analyze how reported mental illness varies across different income levels. The results show that individuals with incomes below the median level are more likely to report mental health issues, while those with incomes above the median are less likely. Specifically, individuals making less than $25,000 per year have a 5.3% higher probability of mental illness compared to the median income group, while those making over $75,000 have a 3.7% lower probability. The findings suggest that low income is linked to worse mental health outcomes, but higher income above a certain threshold is not associated with increased mental illness.

1. Does High
Income Mean
Worse Mental
Health?
Egan Cornachione

2. Thank You!!
 Thank you all for being here
 I hope you all enjoy the presentation!

3. Outline
 Introduction to mental illnesses
 The link between income and mental
illness
 What this study attempts to find
 Data and Model
 What I find

4. Introduction
 What is mental illness?
 What causes it?
 Affects 18.6% of adults age 18+ (NSDUH 2012)
 Rate is increasing
 What has been contributing to this?

5. Where does income fit in?
 Fundamental economics: growth is good
 Easterlin paradox (Easterlin 1974)
 higher incomes = happier people
 ↑ national income ≠ ↑ national happiness
 Kahneman and Deaton (2010)
 Emotional well-being peak: $75,000

6. What do we know about the
link between income and
mental health?
 Link between social inequality and mental
disorders (Fryers et al 2003)
 Education, income, and unemployment
 Low income →greater mental distress:
 McMillan et al (2010) incomes<$17,000
 Caron and Liu (2010): Living below 50% of
median income

7. What remains to be seen?
 Causal effect not proven
 Effect of high income on mental health?
 High income job=high stress job
 Above $75,000, well-being does not
improve
 Does the nature of high income earning
lead to a higher prevalence of mental
illness?

8. Data
 Health Reform Monitoring Survey, Second
Quarter of 2014
 Survey of 7,701 American adults aged 18-64
 Responses on income, mental and physical
health, and household demographics
 Income is divided into 19 categories: ranging
from less than $5,000 to greater than $175,000.

9. Measures of Mental Illness
 Two measures:
 “Reported a mental or behavioral health
condition”
 Number of days in the past 30 days with
bad mental health
 Days w/stress, depression, emotional problems
 Two levels of severity:
 1) any number of days with mental issues
 2) a week’s worth of days (7+) with mental issues

10. Descriptive Statistics
Income Group % of total
Less than $5k 3.01%
$5k-$7.5k 1.43%
$7.5k-$10k 1.61%
$10k-$12.5k 2.80%
$12.5k-$15k 2.18%
$15k-$20k 3.51%
$20k-$25k 4.44%
$25k-$30k 4.54%
$30k-$35k 4.69%
$35k-$40k 5.01%
$40k-$50k 7.75%
$50k-$60k 8.66%
$60k-$75k 9.91%
$75k-$85k 7.53%
$85k-$100k 7.31%
$100k-$125k 11.21%
$125k-$150k 5.56%
$150k-$175k 3.48%
More than
$175k 5.36%
Mental Health
Diagnosis
% of
population
sermhcondition 15.73%
mhcondition 37.87%
mentalhealth 23.89%
Variable % of population
white 71.90%
male 48.10%
married 55.41%
unemployed 32.83%
poor_phys_health 10.88%
insured 89.65%
college 39.67%
metro 85.61%
age 45.5
Household_size 2.8

11. Descriptive Statistics
 Comparing Mental Health of Rich
(Income greater than $75,000) and Poor
(Income less than $25,000)
Variable Rich: Poor:
Obs 3115 1462
mhcondition 30.50% 49.38%
sermhcondition 9.95% 25.99%
mentalhealth 18.97% 33.17%

12. Model
 Independent Variable: income
 Dependent Variable: mental illness
 Controls:
 race, gender, age, education
 marital status, household size, employment
status
 physical health, insurance
 type of city (metro area or not)

13. My Model
mentalhealth=β0+β1rich+β2poor+β3white+β4
male+β5married+β6unemployed+β7poor_ph
ys_health+β8insured+β9college+β10age+β11m
etro+β12household_size+u

15. Results
mentalhealth Coef. Std. Err. t P>t [95% Conf. Interval]
rich*** -3.77% 1.10% -3.44 0.001 -5.91% -1.62%
poor*** 5.29% 1.47% 3.59 0 2.40% 8.17%
white*** 5.54% 1.08% 5.11 0 3.42% 7.67%
male*** -5.36% 0.95% -5.62 0 -7.23% -3.49%
married*** -5.29% 1.12% -4.71 0 -7.49% -3.09%
unemployed*** 7.73% 1.11% 6.98 0 5.56% 9.90%
poor_phys_health*** 19.46% 1.77% 10.98 0 15.98% 22.93%
insured*** 9.95% 1.52% 6.57 0 6.98% 12.93%
education 0.20% 0.27% 0.74 0.457 -0.33% 0.72%
metro -0.79% 1.40% -0.56 0.574 -3.53% 1.96%
age 0.05% 0.04% 1.29 0.199 -0.03% 0.13%
household _size* -0.70% 0.37% -1.89 0.059 -1.42% 0.03%
_cons 0.104696 0.040587 2.58 0.01 2.51% 18.43%

16. Results
mhcondition Coef. Std. Err. t P>t [95% Conf. Interval]
Less than $5k** 9.65% 3.72% 2.59 0.01 2.35% 16.94%
$5k-$7.5k*** 8.77% 5.05% 1.73 0.083 -1.14% 18.68%
$7.5k-$10k 5.67% 4.70% 1.2 0.228 -3.56% 14.89%
$10k-$12.5k*** 11.78% 3.91% 3.02 0.003 4.13% 19.44%
$12.5k-$15k 1.95% 4.21% 0.46 0.643 -6.31% 10.21%
$15k-$20k*** 10.20% 3.42% 2.98 0.003 3.50% 16.90%
$20k-$25k 4.11% 3.17% 1.3 0.195 -2.10% 10.32%
$25k-$30k 2.81% 3.15% 0.89 0.372 -3.36% 8.98%
$30k-$35k** 7.44% 3.10% 2.4 0.017 1.35% 13.52%
$35k-$40k 0.40% 3.01% 0.13 0.894 -5.50% 6.30%
$40k-$50k -1.90% 2.71% -0.7 0.483 -7.20% 3.41%
$60k-$75k -2.03% 2.49% -0.82 0.413 -6.91% 2.84%
$75k-$85k -1.58% 2.67% -0.59 0.552 -6.81% 3.64%
$85k-$100k** -6.87% 2.65% -2.59 0.01 -12.06% -1.68%
$100k-$125k*** -8.82% 2.41% -3.67 0 -13.53% -4.10%
$125k-$150k*** -11.28% 2.77% -4.07 0 -16.72% -5.85%
$150k-$175k* -5.57% 3.33% -1.67 0.094 -12.10% 0.95%
More than
$175k*** -11.05% 2.85% -3.88 0 -16.63% -5.46%

17. What I Find
 Compared to median income group:
 Poor: 5.3% more likely
 Rich: 3.7% less likely
 Below median income: ↑ mental illness
 Above median income: ↓ mental illness
 Logit probability of having mental illness:
 $100,000-$125,000: 17.04%
 $15,000-$19,999: 23.92%

18. What to Look Out For
 Survey bias
 Income is correlated with SES variables
 Causality not able to be determined
 Cross-sectional issues
 Possible reverse causality

19. Takeaways
 Confirmed link between low income and
mental illness
 Increasing income does not increase
mental illness
 Income cutoff of $175,000:
 Does not include variation at very high
incomes
 Median CEO salary is around $681,000

20. Implications
 Direct policy efforts at providing mental
health resources for low income adults
 Poor income group is far less likely to
receive care
 Fixing this inequity is of clear importance
Has Mental Illness, Unable to Afford Mental Health Care
Rich (>$75,000/yr) 10.83%
Poor (<$25,000/yr) 22.68%

21. Questions