IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ariqol/v20y2025i1d10.1007_s11482-024-10393-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends and Causes of Educational Inequality in Health-Related Quality of Life in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Na Li

    (Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

  • Can Xu

    (School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University)

  • Gaoming Ma

    (School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University)

  • Min Yu

    (Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

  • Hao Wang

    (Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

  • Xiaoting Liu

    (School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University)

Abstract

Since the 1980s, there has been a steady increase in the inequality of health-related quality of life in China. However, there has been no reliable evaluation of recent trends, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. To bridge the knowledge gap, we analyzed current trends in educational inequality in health-related quality of life and explored potential causes. According to the Zhejiang Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Program (n = 55,560) and the Recentered Influence Function decomposition method, we found that although the health-related quality of life has remained relatively stable over the past two decades, health inequality has risen. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the already existing inequality in mental health has worsened significantly. Further analysis indicated that the group with the lowest education level might contribute to the rapid increase in mental health inequality during the epidemic due to their inability to obtain a relatively stable income. Our study highlights the necessity of social policies to curb the rise of inequality in health-related quality of life.

Suggested Citation

  • Na Li & Can Xu & Gaoming Ma & Min Yu & Hao Wang & Xiaoting Liu, 2025. "Trends and Causes of Educational Inequality in Health-Related Quality of Life in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 20(1), pages 91-109, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:20:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11482-024-10393-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-024-10393-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-024-10393-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11482-024-10393-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:20:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11482-024-10393-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.