Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/71327 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series No. WP08/03
Publisher: 
University College Dublin, UCD School of Economics, Dublin
Abstract: 
The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is frequently used as a measure of mental well-being. A consistent pattern across countries is that women report lower levels of mental well-being, as measured by the GHQ. This paper applies decomposition techniques to Irish data for 1994 and 2000 to examine the factors lying behind the gender differences in GHQ score. For 1994 most of the difference is accounted for by characteristics while in 2000 most of the difference arises from returns to characteristics. The issue of path dependence, or choice of reference group, is shown to be important, mostly arising from the differing effect of principal economic status on men and women.
Subjects: 
GHQ
decomposition
path dependence
JEL: 
I12
I31
I32
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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