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Gender differences in mental well-being : a decomposition analysis
Author(s)
Date Issued
2008-01
Date Available
2009-01-06T15:18:06Z
Abstract
The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is frequently used as a measure of mental well-being. A consistent pattern across countries is that women report lower levels of mental well-being, as measured by the GHQ. This paper applies decomposition techniques to Irish data for 1994 and 2000 to examine the factors lying behind the gender differences in GHQ score. For 1994 most of the difference is accounted for by characteristics while in 2000 most of the difference arises from returns to characteristics. The issue of path dependence, or choice of reference group, is shown to be important, mostly arising from the differing effect of principal economic status on men and women.
Sponsorship
Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Type of Material
Working Paper
Publisher
University College Dublin. School of Economics
Series
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Papers
WP08/03
Copyright (Published Version)
UCD Centre for Economic Research 2008
Keywords
Subject – LCSH
Mental health--Sex differences
Mental health--Statistical methods
Decomposition (Mathematics)
Language
English
Status of Item
Not peer reviewed
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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