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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1511547
This article is part of the Research Topic The Intersection of Psychology, Healthy Behaviors, and its Outcomes View all 57 articles

Consumption, Relative Deprivation and Mental Health: Evidence from Hedonic Consumption

Provisionally accepted
Hao Li Hao Li 1,2Weihong Zeng Weihong Zeng 1,2*
  • 1 Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
  • 2 Jinhe Economic Research Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The relationship between relative deprivation related to consumption and mental health as well as its underlying channels and moderating roles are largely unknown. We employ data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 to explore this relationship, comprising a total of 88,144 observations. Relative deprivation related to consumption was assessed by both vertical comparisons within households (reduced household consumption) and horizontal comparisons between households (consumption inequality), focusing on hedonic consumption expenditure. Hedonic consumption expenditure is measured through spending on items such as jewelry, antiques, musical equipment, and cultural and entertainment activities, and consumption inequality is measured using Kakwani index. Mental health is assessed through the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Kessler 6 rating scale. Ordinary least squares (OLS) method and two-stage least squares (2SLS) method were used. The findings indicate that reductions in hedonic consumption negatively affect mental health in the Chinese population. Individuals experience more pronounced mental health deterioration when facing sudden, involuntary declines in hedonic consumption. Additionally, higher levels of consumption inequality in hedonic items exacerbate mental health issues. The perceived experience of unfair treatment intensifies the negative impact of consumption inequality on mental health. These results remain robust, even after addressing endogeneity using instrumental variable methods. Additionally, self-perception and trust levels are identified as key channels through which these effects. Furthermore, cultural variations and social capital are moderating roles to diminish the adverse mental health.

    Keywords: relative deprivation, hedonic consumption expenditure, Consumption inequality, Reduced consumption, public mental health, China

    Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Li and Zeng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Weihong Zeng, Jinhe Economic Research Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi Province, China

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