Depression, Physical activity, and self-rated health: Panel analysis of adults in South Korea

Abstract

Background: The health status of an individual is determined by socio-economic factors and behavioral factors. Socio-economic factors include marital status, educational level, living expenses, and housing type, among others. The differences of health status across individuals are mainly determined by these socioeconomic factors, which cannot be altered in a short run. However, even if the socioeconomic factors cannot be altered in the short run, there are ways for an individual to improve the health status in a relatively short period of time. These are behavioral factors, such as physical activities and management of depression. Methods: We provided evidence of the first statement by running a pooled OLS regression with self-rated health (SRH) as dependent variable and with walking, management of depression, sex, age, marital status, educational level, housing type, living expenses, and economic activity as independent variables. We proved the second statement by running a fixed-effect panel regression with the same dependent and independent variables. The 2010–2013 Korea Health Panel Survey data were used for analysis. Subjects were 34,436 adults (≥19 years) in 8,609 panel groups. Results: All the variables, including socio-economic variables as well as behavioral variables, were significant in the Pooled OLS regression. Whereas behavioral variables, such as walking and management of depression, were significant in the fixed-effect panel regression, socio-economic variables were not. The reason is that socio-economic variables are stable and not variant for an individual in the short-run.Conclusion: Whereas the differences of health status across individuals are mainly determined by socioeconomic factors, the health of an individual is significantly affected by his/her behavior. It is shown that regular walking and reduction of depression are important in improving SRH. There is a need for strategies designed to address depression and aging and encourage walking.