| Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up,China’s economy has grown rapidly and now it is the world’s second largest economy.Although people’s living conditions continue to improve,people’s life satisfaction has declined and happiness has barely improved,the declining level of subjective well-being began to bring mental health problems,such as anxiety,depression,it will threat the further economic development and social stability.Among the many factors that affect residents’ subjective welfare,scholars generally believe that income level ha s a great impact,and a variety of economic theories such as "absolute income hypothesis" and "relative income hypothesis" have emerged.But with the emergence of the "Easterlin paradox" of resident happiness,the relative income hypothesis is gaining grou nd.However,according to the existing research,most of the researches focus on the relationship between residents’ subjective welfare and relative income prefer residents’ happiness and life satisfaction,and few scholars pay attention to mental health.However,as an important part of health and mental state,mental health is of great significance to the harmonious development of society.Therefore,this paper combine mental health and income inequality into the same research framework.Based on the CFPS2016 data,This paper calculates the relative deprivation index under three different reference group and analyzes the income inequality’s effects on residents mental health and its influence path,using simultaneous equations three-stage least square method and mediation model.The study found that:(1)Income inequality has a negative impact on residents’ mental health,and the smaller the scope of the selected reference group,the stronger the negative impact;(2)The relationship between income inequa lity and residents’ mental health was affected by the characteristics of the population,the negative effects were most obvious in the female and middle-aged groups.This relationship is also affected by the income level.The impact of income inequality on mental health shows a negative effect in the middle and low income groups,but a positive effect in the high income groups;(3)Income inequality will affect the mental health status of residents through the mediating effects of social justice,life press ure and government trust;(4)Age,gender and income can modulate the mediating effect of life pressure,but they cannot modulate the mediating effect of social justice;(5)Inequality in household wealth exacerbates the negative impact of income inequalit y on mental health.Finally,based on the research conclusions of this paper,several suggestions are put forward in a targeted manner:(1)The government should deepen the reform on income distribution and narrow the income gap;(2)The government should try to create a competitive market environment and promote income mobility;(3)The government should adjust their fiscal expenditure structure and accelerate the development on social welfare security system and public services;(4)The government should increase the input on mental health services and try to improve civils’ mental health. |
