School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212002, Jiangsu, China.
School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, 330000, Jiangxi, China.
Int J Equity Health. 2021 Nov 6;20(1):241. doi: 10.1186/s12939-021-01560-w.
Income inequality is one of the important reflections of the unbalanced development of the world economy and can have adverse effects on physical and mental health.
This article used the 2018 China Family Panel Studies Database as an empirical analysis data source. The Kakwani index (KI) was used to measure income inequality, and social capital was broken into cognitive social capital and structural social capital. Our assessment was conducted by using STATA16 software for ordered logistic regression, verifying income inequality, social capital on correlation between physical and mental health firstly; then by gradual regression methods to verify intermediary effect, and demonstrate the social capital as an intermediary variable affecting physical and mental health as income inequality.
The income inequality has a significant negative effect on physical and mental health (β = - 0.964, - 0.381; OR = 0.382, 0.758; P < 0.01), Social capital has a significant effect on physical and mental health (Cognitive SC(MH): β = 0.146 and 0.104, OR = 1.157 and 1.110, P < 0.01; Cognitive SC(PH): β = 0.046 and 0.069, OR = 1.047 and 1.071, P < 0.01; Structural SC(MH): β = - 0.005, 0.025 and 0.015, OR = 0.995, 1.025 and 1.015, P > 0.1, P < 0.01 and P < 0.01; Structural SC(PH): β = - 0.026, 0.009 and - 0.013, OR = 0.975, 1.009 and 0.987, P < 0.01, P > 0.1 and P < 0.01). Our analysis also showed that social capital (cognitive social capital and structural social capital) has an intermediary effect on physical and mental health due to income inequality.
This study shows that income inequality can not only directly affect physical and mental health, but also through social capital intermediary utility indirectly affect physical and mental health, social capital has positive effects on physical and mental health. At the same time, income inequality and social capital's effects on physical and mental health exist regional differences, urban-rural differences, and gender differences. Therefore, in the development of special policies to support and take care of vulnerable groups, special attention needs to be paid to poor rural areas and female groups.
收入不平等是世界经济发展不平衡的重要反映之一，会对身心健康产生不利影响。
本文使用 2018 年中国家庭追踪调查数据库作为实证分析数据来源。使用卡卡文指数（KI）衡量收入不平等，将社会资本分为认知社会资本和结构社会资本。我们使用 STATA16 软件进行有序逻辑回归评估，首先检验收入不平等、社会资本与身心健康之间的相关性；然后通过逐步回归方法验证中介效应，证明社会资本作为收入不平等影响身心健康的中介变量。
收入不平等对身心健康有显著的负向影响（β=-0.964，-0.381；OR=0.382，0.758；P<0.01），社会资本对身心健康有显著影响（认知社会资本（MH）：β=0.146 和 0.104，OR=1.157 和 1.110，P<0.01；认知社会资本（PH）：β=0.046 和 0.069，OR=1.047 和 1.071，P<0.01；结构社会资本（MH）：β=-0.005，0.025 和 0.015，OR=0.995，1.025 和 1.015，P>0.1，P<0.01 和 P<0.01；结构社会资本（PH）：β=-0.026，0.009 和-0.013，OR=0.975，1.009 和 0.987，P<0.01，P>0.1 和 P<0.01）。我们的分析还表明，由于收入不平等，社会资本（认知社会资本和结构社会资本）对身心健康具有中介效应。
本研究表明，收入不平等不仅可以直接影响身心健康，还可以通过社会资本的中介效用间接影响身心健康，社会资本对身心健康具有积极影响。同时，收入不平等和社会资本对身心健康的影响存在区域差异、城乡差异和性别差异。因此，在制定支持和照顾弱势群体的特殊政策时，需要特别关注贫困农村地区和女性群体。
