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And justice for all: Examining corruption as a contextual source of mental illness

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  • van Deurzen, Ioana

Abstract

In the present study, I focus on the relationship between corruption and mental health as measured by the level of depressive symptoms. I use data collected by the European Social Survey in 2006, 2012 and 2014 from 99,159 individuals that lived in 24 European countries. I employ two types of analyses: static analyses, i.e., multilevel models estimated in each wave, and dynamic analyses, i.e., fixed effects models for pseudo-panel data. Both static and dynamic analyses suggested that corruption had a detrimental effect on mental health. However, the results were not robust in models where the country's wealth was accounted for. Furthermore, this study presents evidence that the level of societal corruption is detrimental especially for the mental health of religious persons and individuals that experience material adversity. Regarding a potentially different effect of corruption on mental health between western and eastern European countries, no significant differences were found.

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  • van Deurzen, Ioana, 2017. "And justice for all: Examining corruption as a contextual source of mental illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 26-34.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:173:y:2017:i:c:p:26-34
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.11.033
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    Cited by:

    1. Sharma, Smriti & Singhal, Saurabh & Tarp, Finn, 2021. "Corruption and mental health: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 125-137.
    2. Monica Violeta Achim & Viorela Ligia Văidean & Sorin Nicolae Borlea, 2020. "Corruption and health outcomes within an economic and cultural framework," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(2), pages 195-207, March.
    3. Krisztina Gero & Daniel Kim, 2020. "Prospective associations between US state-level corruption and individual-level cardiovascular risk factors among middle-aged Americans: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1979," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(9), pages 1737-1748, December.
    4. Smriti Sharma & Saurabh Singhal & Finn Tarp, 2020. "Corruption and mental health," Working Papers 296967914, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.

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