Title: Psychological distress and its association with socioeconomic and health behaviour factors

Authors: Xiangdong An; Hui-chuan Chen; Monty Taylor

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA 30260, USA ' College of Business and Global Affairs, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN 38238, USA ' College of Business and Global Affairs, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN 38238, USA

Abstract: The authors assess the relationships among psychological distress, socioeconomic status, and health behaviour factors. Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) dataset was analysed for this study using hierarchical regression and ANOVA. Results show that daily energy expenditure is positively related with psychological distress. The authors also find that daily fruit consumption, daily green salad consumption, and monthly frequency of leisure activities are negatively associated with psychological distress. Furthermore, the results indicate that people with personal incomes of less than $20,000 perceive significantly higher distress than people with higher incomes. Among five occupation groups, the sales and services group perceives significantly higher distress compared to the other four groups. The four other occupation groups as categorised by CCHS do not perceive significantly different distress levels.

Keywords: psychological distress; gender; occupation; income; health behaviour; fruit consumption; green salad consumption; leisure activities; energy expenditure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2025.147587

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2025 Vol.17 No.4, pp.393 - 403

Received: 09 Aug 2022
Accepted: 28 Dec 2022
Published online: 24 Jul 2025 *

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