Learning to understand possible effects variables such as income and physical activity have on…

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Mental health is increasingly becoming a topical issue that has traditionally been glossed over. We have began to understand the impact mental health has on productivity, general wellbeing, relationships and physical health and placed greater focus on mental wellbeing. Even employers have began placing greater emphasis on providing work environments and conditions that keep their employees as happy and healthy as possible, with progressive companies providing perks such as monthly massages, catered meals, free and subsidised gym and unlimited vacation. In light of this and as an individual interested in developing my programming and data science skills I was also partially motivated by a data visualisation and analysis project on a Coursera Statistics specialisation I was studying. I decided to play around with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.html" target="_blank">CDC</a>), extracting the 2013 <a href="https://d3c33hcgiwev3.cloudfront.net/_384b2d9eda4b29131fb681b243a7767d_brfss2013.RData?Expires=1551052800&amp;Signature=ArVJderWSw2ujJioELfZIhSuZ9SdRthuHY1--C8ZEL25OeXP-JfnJeuB4GtOg2j5S26zMHMKRJ~mezpXk7wFKUntHIW~FFUj9jnazM7L95M4xU7hmeB4CCyhSIV2BH6NM2RD4wnxRVBg1j~ban4O0gv~Znyx6s2oNUYcyZP4jn0_&amp;Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLTNE6QMUY6HBC5A" target="_blank">Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data</a> (BRFSS). This data is collected through monthly telephonic interviews and is one of the largest datasets focused on understanding trends in preventative health practices and risk behaviours that link to chronic diseases injuries and preventable infectious diseases affecting adults in the US. The goal of my analysis is to understand the relationship between income level and one's reported mental health and the impact how much you earn per year, how physically active you are and the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat has on your mental health.