| Title |
Mental Health Care and Average Happiness: Strong Effect in Developed Nations
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, August 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10488-014-0579-8 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Giorgio Touburg, Ruut Veenhoven |
| Abstract |
Mental disorder is a main cause of unhappiness in modern society and investment in mental health care is therefore likely to add to average happiness. This prediction was checked in a comparison of 143 nations around 2005. Absolute investment in mental health care was measured using the per capita number of psychiatrists and psychologists working in mental health care. Relative investment was measured using the share of mental health care in the total health budget. Average happiness in nations was measured with responses to survey questions about life-satisfaction. Average happiness appeared to be higher in countries that invest more in mental health care, both absolutely and relative to investment in somatic medicine. A data split by level of development shows that this difference exists only among developed nations. Among these nations the link between mental health care and happiness is quite strong, both in an absolute sense and compared to other known societal determinants of happiness. The correlation between happiness and share of mental health care in the total health budget is twice as strong as the correlation between happiness and size of the health budget. A causal effect is likely, but cannot be proved in this cross-sectional analysis. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 25 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 8 | 32% |
| United States | 6 | 24% |
| Netherlands | 2 | 8% |
| Mexico | 1 | 4% |
| Brazil | 1 | 4% |
| Burkina Faso | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 6 | 24% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 18 | 72% |
| Scientists | 4 | 16% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 8% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 4% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 46 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 46 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 9 | 20% |
| Student > Master | 7 | 15% |
| Researcher | 5 | 11% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 9% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 7% |
| Other | 8 | 17% |
| Unknown | 10 | 22% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 13 | 28% |
| Social Sciences | 7 | 15% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 5 | 11% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 2 | 4% |
| Arts and Humanities | 2 | 4% |
| Other | 8 | 17% |
| Unknown | 9 | 20% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 August 2014.
All research outputs
#2,094,939
of 25,714,183 outputs
Outputs from Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research
#70
of 726 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#20,469
of 242,275 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research
#1
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,714,183 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 91st percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 726 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 242,275 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.