“Born in the wrong place?”Association between municipality-level income inequality and Dutch adolescent mental health

Abstract

While Dutch adolescents consistently report the highest level of perceived well-being within Europe there has been a decline in emotional well-being between 2009 and 2013. This has been a current trend in other Northern European welfare states as well. The effects of the Dutch national context on mental health has been well established. On a lower level the influence of the neighbourhood on adolescent mental health has also been a topic of research. However, the important influence of the municipality has been overlooked. Thus, the present study aims to explore to what extent and how a socioeconomic characteristic (income inequality) of the municipality is associated with Dutch adolescents’ mental health problems. The goals of the study are twofold. Firstly, it will establish the association between both municipal- level income inequality and adolescent mental health problems measured in emotional and conduct problems. Secondly, using the same dependent and independent variable, it will determine the moderating effects of family SES and adolescent level of education. The findings suggest a small positive association between municipal inequality and adolescent mental health problems. However, there were found no significant effects of the moderating factors family SES and level of education.