Psychological costs of low wealth in midlife: Lower socioeconomic status carries greater disadvantage for depressive symptoms in the United States than Europe and China

Clicks: 2
ID: 339165
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #134 of 134 articles by views in the journals of gerontology series b, psychological sciences and social sciences

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 134 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Socioeconomic inequalities in depressive symptoms are well documented, yet little is known about how these inequalities unfold during midlife and whether they vary across national and historical contexts. METHODS: Using harmonized longitudinal data spanning 1992 to 2022 from 16 countries (United States, England, France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, South Korea, and China), this study modeled trajectories of depressive symptoms among adults aged 45 to 65 across four wealth-based socioeconomic strata: Low (1st to 15th percentile), Lower-middle (16th to 45th), Upper-middle (46th to 75th), and High (76th to 100th). RESULTS: Results revealed cross-national disparities: midlife adults in the United States reported higher depressive symptoms than their peers in most other nations, and this difference was most pronounced among lower SES groups. In most nations, later-born cohorts reported more depressive symptoms, with Upper-middle SES individuals exhibiting the largest historical increases. Beyond these mean-level patterns, lower SES groups were found to exhibit greater heterogeneity across three trajectory features of depressive symptoms (i.e., mean-levels at age 50 as well as linear and quadratic changes in depressive symptoms). This may suggest that under socioeconomic disadvantage, depressive symptoms are less tightly structured by SES alone and more strongly shaped by other contextual and individual factors. DISCUSSION: Collectively, findings highlight that mental health inequalities in midlife are deeply embedded in societal and historically changing structures. Policies that strengthen social protections and promote economic security may reduce these disparities and enhance well-being across the life course.
Reference Key
openalex_W7225424712 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Jonathan L. Chia, Frank J. Infurna, Markus Wettstein, Nutifafa Eugene Yaw Dey, Yesenia Cruz–Carrillo, Kevin J. Grimm, Margie E Lachman, Denis Gerstorf
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal the journals of gerontology series b, psychological sciences and social sciences
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/geronb/gbag215
URL
https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/geronb/gbag215/73181144/gbag215.pdf
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.