Table 2.

Mean (SE) general health questionnaire score (GHQ) at T1 (Likert scoring method), and regression coefficients (SE), B, for general health questionnaire score at T1 and T2 by poverty score, unemployment, and financial strain at T1, adjusted for age, sex, social class (by head of household), other potential confounders^*, other variables in table^†, and general health questionnaire score at T1^‡

	No of subjects (%)	Mean GHQ score at T1	B for GHQ score at T1	P value	B for GHQ score at T2‡	P value
Poverty score (v 0):
1	2318 (30.0)	10.31 (0.09)	0.45 (0.14)	0.001	0.26 (0.14)	0.07
2-3	2677 (34.7)	10.75 (0.12)	0.69 (0.16)	<0.001	0.44 (0.16)	0.006
⩾4	1078 (14.0)	12.43 (0.18)	1.75 (0.24)	<0.001	0.75 (0.22)	0.001
Unemployed (v employed)	462 (6.0)	12.86 (0.29)	1.72 (0.36)	<0.001	0.47 (0.35)	0.18
Financial strain (v comfortable):
Just about getting by	2385 (30.9)	11.31 (0.10)	1.42 (0.13)	<0.001	0.47 (0.13)	<0.001
Difficult or very difficult	1048 (13.6)	14.01 (0.19)	3.75 (0.23)	<0.001	0.94 (0.22)	<0.001

^*Household size, dependent children, education, ethnic group, marital status, number of physical health problems, and region of residence. 

^†Regression coefficients for poverty score and unemployment not adjusted for financial strain at T1.