Table 3.
Associations between individual mental health, income inequality and income deprivation in four-level multilevel linear regression modelsa
| Model | Null model | Model 1 (null + income inequality) | Model 2 (model 1 + income deprivation) | Model 3 (model 2 + individual and household variablesb) | Model 4 (model 3 + neighbourhood pairsc) | Model 5 (model 4 + unitary authority income inequalityd) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mental health score, mean (s.e.) | 73.1 (0.51) | 73.1 (0.52) | 75.8 (0.51) | 83.3 (0.27) | 83.2 (0.30) | 83.7 (0.44) |
| Fixed effects, parameter estimate (s.e.) | ||||||
| Quintiles of income inequality | ||||||
| Lowest | Reference | Reference | Reference | Reference | Reference | |
| Low | –1.031 (0.325)** | 0.024 (0.258) | –0.256 (0.219) | –0.306 (0.216) | –0.296 (0.216) | |
| Middle | –1.056 (0.348)** | 0.180 (0.251) | –0.060 (0.206) | –0.308 (0.242) | –0.299 (0.239) | |
| High | –0.124 (0.247) | 0.888 (0.226)** | 0.269 (0.272) | –0.149 (0.206) | –0.141 (0.277) | |
| Highest | 2.256 (0.417)*** | 1.609 (0.395)** | 0.546 (0.239)* | 0.029 (0.493) | 0.049 (0.491) | |
| Quintiles of income deprivation | ||||||
| Lowest | Reference | Reference | Reference | Reference | ||
| Low | –1.492 (0.206)*** | –0.539 (0.166)* | –0.516 (0.166)* | –0.532 (0.165)** | ||
| Middle | –2.983 (0.221)*** | –1.011 (0.189)*** | –0.848 (0.273)** | –0.869 (0.271)** | ||
| High | –4.723 (0.231)*** | –1.822 (0.169)*** | –1.572 (0.431)*** | –1.595 (0.429)*** | ||
| Highest | –6.955 (0.257)*** | –2.050 (0.266)*** | –1.775 (0.490)*** | –1.798 (0.487)*** | ||
| Income inequality and income deprivation pairsc | ||||||
| Low inequality + low deprivation | Reference | Reference | ||||
| High inequality + low deprivation | 0.702 (0.334)* | 0.708 (0.334)* | ||||
| High inequality + high deprivation | 0.177 (0.466) | 0.184 (0.466) | ||||
| Low inequality + high deprivation | 0.024 (0.334) | 0.026 (0.334) | ||||
| Unitary authority income inequalityd | ||||||
| Low inequality | ||||||
| High inequality | –1.347 (0.538)* | |||||
| Random parameters, variance (s.e.) | ||||||
| Level 1: Individual | 244.9 (18.5) | 245.7 (18.6) | 245.2 (18.6) | 310.4 (1.49) | 216.9 (16.4) | 216.9 (16.4) |
| Level 2: Household | 120.0 (3.63) | 118.5 (3.59) | 119.4 (3.65) | 94.6 (2.97) | 94.6 (2.97) | 94.6 (2.97) |
| Level 3: Lower super output area | 8.93 (1.04) | 8.11 (1.09) | 2.92 (0.60) | 0.45 (0.34) | 0.43 (0.35) | 0.43 (0.35) |
| Level 4: Unitary authority | 5.37 (1.08) | 5.35 (2.94) | 4.27 (1.30) | 2.37 (0.51) | 2.38 (0.51) | 1.93 (0.48) |
| Model fit | ||||||
| Deviance | 779 118.5 | 776 041.0 | 775 520.4 | 761 965.9 | 761 961.3 | 761 957.1 |
Mental health was measured using the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) scale of the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Income inequality was measured using quintiles of the lower super output areas (LSOA) Gini coefficient. Income deprivation was measured using quintiles of the LSOA distribution of low-income households.
The individual and household variables were age group, gender, social class, employment status, highest educational qualification and housing tenure.
Lower super output areas were categorised into one of four pairs of high- or low-income inequality and high- or low-income deprivation scores.
Unitary authority income inequality modelled as a binary variable above and below the median Gini coefficient.
P < 0.05
P < 0.01
P < 0.001.