Effects of social mobility on adult mental health: a systematic review of the literature

The scope of this study was to identify longitudinal studies evaluating the relationship between social mobility and mental disorders in adults. An electronic review of the literature was conducted in the PubMed/Medline and PsycINFO databases. The bibliographic references of the articles selected for analysis were also examined for eligibility. Cohort studies were selected taking social mobility as exposure category and mental health-related disorders as the outcome. Seven studies were reviewed and their definition and categorization of exposure and outcome were found to be heterogeneous, thus rendering analysis and comparison of the results found in the various studies difficult. Mental health-related disorders were more common in individuals belonging to lower socio-economic classes, regardless of having upward, stable or downward social mobility. Moreover, the influence of individual socio-economic conditions, assessed in adulthood, appears to be greater than the effect of parental economic status on the mental health of individuals. This review indicates that it is possible to find a relationship between socio-economic status during the course of life and mental health in adulthood. However, the direction taken by this relationship remains unclear.