Table 3.

Poverty exacerbates the effect of adverse circumstances: Average percentage of people reporting a lot of sadness and worry yesterday, by income group and condition

 Income <$1,000/mo Income ≥$3,000/mo No Yes Difference No Yes Difference Weekend 46.6 44.5 −2.1 22.3 17.1 −5.2 Divorced 44.3 50.5 6.2 20.5 24.4 3.9 Alone 44.0 58.9 14.9 20.5 31.5 11.0 Headache 38.0 69.5 31.6 18.9 38.4 19.5 Asthma 33.1 40.8 7.8 18.0 21.6 3.6
• Approximately 10% of US households have a monthly income <$1,000, and around two-thirds have a monthly income of ≥$3,000. The reported figures are unadjusted for covariates. For the asthma variable, to control for persons with multiple conditions, who are more common at low incomes, the comparison is between those with asthma and no other health conditions and those reporting no health conditions at all. The difference in the third column is statistically different from the difference in the sixth column in each case; the t values range from 23.9 (headache) to 3.1 (asthma.)