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The current study examines the associations between employment status and mental health and the mediating role of material hardship among low‐income households in South Korea. This study uses regression models with a rich set of control variables and lagged dependent variable models with a nationally representative sample of 1113 low‐income working‐age household heads from the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS). We find that the nonstandard employment and unemployment statuses are associated with a higher level of depression and a lower level of self‐esteem, when compared to a standard employment status. These negative associations are partially mediated by an increased material hardship risk. Policy implications to improve employment conditions and mitigate material hardship are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing material hardship may bring various negative consequences for married couples and family members. However, little is known about this topic in Korea. Using a nationally representative sample from the Korean Welfare Panel Study, we examined how material hardship was associated with marital well-being among low-income families in Korea, separately for husbands (i.e., male household heads) and wives. Overall, we found experiencing any material hardship was associated with lower levels of satisfaction of both family life and spousal relationship, consistently for husbands and wives. We also found depression and self-esteem partially mediated the associations in both groups. Furthermore, among individual items of material hardship, experiencing food hardship was associated with lower levels of satisfaction of family life for both husbands and wives, whereas experiencing problems with credit was associated with lower levels of satisfaction of both family life and spousal relationship for wives but not for husbands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the recent trend of growing poverty in South Korea, low-income households, particularly elderly- and single-headed households, are at high risk of experiencing material hardship and depression. However, less is known about the association between material hardship and depression by household type in Korea. Using data ( N = 2,913) from the Korean Welfare Panel Study and employing several methodological approaches to address the omitted variables bias, this study examined: (i) the association between material hardship and depression among low-income households, and (ii) whether the association differed by household type. We found that experiencing material hardship was associated with a higher likelihood of being depressed. In addition, we also found that the association between material hardship and depression differed by household type. The magnitude of the association was most pronounced in single- and elderly-headed households. Policy implications to improve well-being among low-income households were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]