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. 2019 Jul:232:120-128.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.043. Epub 2019 Apr 30.

Income inequality is detrimental to long-term well-being: A large-scale longitudinal investigation in China

Hongfei Du  1 , Ronnel B King  2 , Peilian Chi  3
Affiliations

Income inequality is detrimental to long-term well-being: A large-scale longitudinal investigation in China

Hongfei Du et al. Soc Sci Med. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Much of the research on the detrimental effects of inequality on well-being is based on cross-sectional surveys, which may have over- or under-estimated the relationship between income inequality and well-being. Moreover, the vast majority of the work comes from Western industrialized contexts but it is not known to what extent the same pattern holds in non-Western developing countries.

Objective: The current research aims to address these two issues by investigating the longitudinal effects of income inequality on well-being in China.

Method: We used the China Family Panel Studies dataset in 2010-2014. Our study includes a representative sample of 29,331 residents from 20 provinces in China. The participants completed measures of well-being, including subjective well-being and psychological distress. We examined whether provincial-level income inequality in 2010 predicted individual-level well-being in 2014.

Results: Multilevel analyses showed that residents in more unequal provinces had lower subjective well-being and greater psychological distress. The patterns still held, after controlling for baseline well-being and a number of covariates, including age, gender, education, income, ethnicity, marital status, and urban/rural residence. The effects of inequality on well-being differed across socioeconomic groups.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that income inequality has long-term adverse consequences on well-being in a non-Western developing society. Furthermore, its effects are moderated by financial wealth.

Keywords: Chinese; Inequality; Psychological distress; Subjective well-being.

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