Perceived Purchases: The Effects of Financial Strain on Depressive Symptoms in Early Adulthood

• In Event: 570 - Regular Session. Mental Health: Economic and Education Antecedents

Abstract

The relationship between economic inequalities and mental health disparities is well established among scholars. Occupying lower economic strata consistently produces higher levels of distress and ultimately greater instances in depressive symptoms than those who are economically advantaged. When accounting for economic position, on average depressive symptoms are highest among those transitioning into adulthood which decrease until middle age and then increase through later adulthood. Primarily scholars have explored this relationship using objective measures of socioeconomic status such as education, income, and occupational prestige. These measures have real social consequences, yet they do not account for perceptions of one's economic position or the life course dependent factors that may shape such evaluations. The purpose of this paper aims to examine the variation in depressive symptoms by subjective financial strain in a framework of stress-process and life-course theories. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth Child and Young Adult Survey years 2000-2008. I investigate how levels of depressive symptoms fluctuate by financial strain in adults ages 18-34 using 2-level multilevel models with age interactions. My analyses indicate that financial strain does positively and significantly predict levels of depressive symptoms but depressive symptoms do not decrease with age when accounting for perceptions of financial strain. This provides new insight in the discussion of depressive symptoms and mental health disparities when adjusting for perceptions of financial strain across adulthood transitions.

Author

• Ashleigh Rene Hope, Vanderbilt University