Social Inequality and Mental Health in Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia

Abstract

The results of a comparative study of social inequality and mental health show that Chile and Colombia, which have enormous social gaps despite their economic growth, are characterized by poor mental health indicators and social discontent, while the better equity indicators in Ecuador are not clearly linked to mental health. The concept of social defeat is suggested as a mediator between social inequality and individual and collective mental health, and participation and empowerment are suggested as ways of improving social well-being. Los resultados de un estudio comparativo de desigualdad social y salud mental muestran que Chile y Colombia, que tienen enormes brechas sociales a pesar de su crecimiento económico, se caracterizan por indicadores de salud mental deficientes y descontento social, mientras que los mejores indicadores de equidad en Ecuador no están claramente vinculados a la salud mental. El concepto de derrota social se sugiere como un mediador entre la desigualdad social y la salud mental individual y colectiva, y la participación y el empoderamiento se sugieren como formas de mejorar el bienestar social.

Social defeat: Concept and measurement in a Hispanic population

“…In the present study, SD was associated to lower levels of social well-being. Although SD has been linked to abusive group dynamics such as bullying (Björkqvist, 2001;Meltzer, Vostanis, Ford, Bebbington, & Dennis, 2011), its reverse association with perceptions of integration or communal contribution adds to the discussion about how socio-contextual variables affect psychological well-being and play a role in individual suffering (Quijada et al, 2018;Wood, Boyce, Moore, & Brown, 2012).…”

“…By capturing feelings linked to unfavorable social comparison, it has been proposed that social defeat could act as a mediator between a context of social inequality and the psychological unrest of the people who inhabit it (Quijada, Villagrán, Vaccari, Reyes, & Gallardo, 2018). Specifically, Chile has presented deterioration in some mental health indicators, e.g., 21.1% of Chilean adults claim having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives (Ministerio de Salud de Chile, 2014).…”

Effects of precarious work on symptomatology of anxiety and depression in Chilean workers, a cross sectional study

“…The same data capture process also excludes reverse causation, unless the presence of high anxiety/depression scores makes workers self-select into more precarious jobs. This interpretation is not supported by the fact that compared with other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, Chile’s indicators of mental health have worsened at an accelerated rate [ 32 ]. We conclude, therefore, that reverse causation and inflated results due to common method bias are unlikely to be serious limitations.…”

Gasto público en prestaciones hospitalarias y extrahospitalarias en el modelo de salud mental comunitaria en Chile

“…Nowadays, despite the progress in the availability of mental health services under a community model, psychiatric hospitals still in force. Important gaps remain in the quality of care and in the users' rights (Cea-Madrid, 2019;Minoletti et al, 2015) and there are growing indicators of social dissatisfaction and subjective discomfort among the citizens in general (Aceituno Morales; Miranda Hiriart; Jiménez Molina, 2012; Quijada et al, 2018). Along with this, organizations have promoted collective actions for the defense of rights, potentializing the public debate in the field of mental health (Cea-Madrid, 2018b).…”