Article Text
Abstract
Background Studies show that relative deprivation influences individuals’ health, including physical health, mental health, and health behaviours. One mechanism to link relative deprivation and health is that relative deprivation is hypothesised to operate on health through a psychosocial pathway. When individuals make upward social comparisons, feelings of relative deprivation activate stress that negatively affect health. This qualitative study was designed to investigate the relationship between relative deprivation and maternal health in China, and whether the stress works as the mechanism to link relative deprivation and maternal health.
Methods This qualitative study was conducted through 40 in-depth online interviews among mothers randomly recruited from two contrasting cities in China (Shanghai and Guiyang) in 2022. The sample comprised 40 mothers aged between 18 and 52, with at least one (biological) child under age 6.
Results First, all mothers who described themselves as ‘lower-middle’ level income reported ‘fair’ or ‘bad’ health status, and all of them with stress. Second, mothers who described their income as ‘middle’ or ‘upper-middle’ level, their self-reported health status were related to their stress status. In general, mothers with stress all reported ‘fair’ or ‘bad’ health status, and those mothers with overall no stress assessed themselves as ‘good’ health status.
Conclusion Stress works as the mechanism to link relative deprivation (self-reported income level) and maternal health (self-reported health status) in China. Specifically, financial stress comes from housing status, childcare expenditure, location, and government policies. Other stress comes from parenting, family relationships, work, and self-stress, regardless of mothers’ self-reported income level.