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Poverty and psychological distress in Latin America

Author

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  • Rojas, Mariano
Abstract
The objective of this paper is three-fold: first, to study the psychological distress of the Latin American poor. Second, to study differences in psychological distress between the poor and the relatively wealthy in Latin America. Third, to study how economic growth impacts the psychological well-being of the poor. This paper uses micro-level information from the Gallup 2007 Survey for 16 Latin American countries to study psychological distress of the poor in Latin America; the survey is representative at the country level. The investigation works with approximately 12,500 observations. Psychological distress is measured on the basis of a set of questions regarding a person's emotional situation the day before he/she answered the questionnaire. The investigation finds out that the poor show greater psychological distress than the wealthy and that the gap is statistically significant. However, it would be inappropriate to attempt predicting a person's psychological well-being on the basis of his/her poverty condition alone, since many factors affect people's psychological well-being. The paper also shows that rapid economic growth seems to be detrimental to the psychological well-being of the poor, and that the impact of economic growth on psychological well-being differs between the poor and the relatively wealthy.

Suggested Citation

  • Rojas, Mariano, 2011. "Poverty and psychological distress in Latin America," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 206-217, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:2:p:206-217
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Gandelman, Néstor & Hernández-Murillo, Rubén, 2013. "What do happiness and health satisfaction data tell us about relative risk aversion?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 301-312.
    4. Feeny, Simon & McDonald, Lachlan & Posso, Alberto, 2014. "Are Poor People Less Happy? Findings from Melanesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 448-459.
    5. Nicholas Apergis & Tasawar Hayat & Tareq Saeed, 2019. "The Role of Happiness in Financial Decisions: Evidence from Financial Portfolio Choice and Five European Countries," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 47(3), pages 343-360, September.
    6. Roxanna Morote & Odin Hjemdal & Patricia Martinez Uribe & Jozef Corveleyn, 2017. "Psychometric properties of the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and its relationship with life-stress, anxiety and depression in a Hispanic Latin-American community sample," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Fernando García-Quero & Jorge Guardiola, 2018. "Economic Poverty and Happiness in Rural Ecuador: the Importance of Buen Vivir (Living Well)," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 909-926, December.
    8. Jigme Nidup & Simon Feeny & Ashton Silva, 2018. "Improving Well-Being in Bhutan: A Pursuit of Happiness or Poverty Reduction?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 79-100, November.

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