The Effects of Socio-Economic Factors on Depression and Perceived Health Status (Phs) among a Cohort of Young People (15-24) in South Africa: Evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study (Nids) Waves 1-5.

Nelly Ruth Nkhoma, University of Cape Town
Catriona Towriss, University of Cape Town

This study will look at the incidence of depression and reports of bad PHS among a cohort of young people across the 5 waves of the South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) and will examine the effect of socio-economic factors (education level, employment status and household wealth) on these two outcomes. The data sets to be used are from NIDS waves 1-5. NIDS was conducted biannually from 2008 to 2017. Descriptive analysis and Mixed Effects Regression (MER) analysis will be conducted. The results suggest that about 12% - 20% of the population at each wave were depressed and that less than 10% of the population at each wave reported bad PHS. The regression results show that the odds of depression increase with age while the odds of reporting bad PHS reduce with age and that females are more likely to be depressed and less likely to report bad PHS.