The Link Between Cognitive Difficulty, Mental Health Issues, and Poverty: A Comparison Between the United States and Spain

Rosa, Natasha

The Link Between Cognitive Difficulty, Mental Health Issues, and Poverty: A Comparison Between the United States and Spain

Persistent URL

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/10456/56706

Author(s)

Rosa, Natasha

Date Issued

April 2023

Abstract

Throughout the years 2015-2020, there is a lack of existing evidence and literature that reveal a distinguished relationship between the topics of mental health and poverty. In the United States, public data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) displays that a significant amount of Americans suffer from some form or another of cognitive difficulty and mental health conditions. This study attempts to hypothesize that there is a clear correlation between these demographic variables and poverty. Through the process of extracting data about the United States from IPUMS, the methodology of the research requires a regression analysis, including a variety of explanatory variables, yet only two of which will be expanded upon in depth: Diffrem, signifying cognitive difficulty, and Diffcare, signifying mental health conditions. This research also features a literary case study on possible relationships on related topics that exist in Spain, and a comparison of both countries in regard to the correlations between independent and dependent variables. The results for the United States. prove that all of the predictive variables are statistically significant at the 99% confidence level, which supports the hypothesis that there is a direct positive relationship between cognitive difficulty and poverty, as well as mental health conditions and poverty. Similarly, in Spain, there is a comparable relationship between variables, much like that in the United States, but it is not proven by data and is instead suggested by the collected literature and personal experiences.

Major

Economics

Honors

Business and Economics, 2023

First Reader(s)

Bianco, Timothy P.