Abstract
The ways in which a neighborhood environment may affect depression and depressive symptoms have not been thoroughly explored. This study used longitudinal data from 5475 adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis to investigate associations of time-varying depressive symptoms between 2000 and 2012 (measured using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)) with survey-based measures of neighborhood safety and social cohesion (both individual-level perceptions and neighborhood-level aggregates) and densities of social engagement destinations. Linear mixed models were used to examine associations of baseline cross-sectional associations and cumulative exposures with changes over time in CES-D. Econometric fixed effects models were utilized to investigate associations of within-person changes in neighborhood exposures with within-person changes in CES-D. Adjusting for relevant covariates, higher safety and social cohesion and greater density of social engagement destinations were associated with lower CES-D at baseline. Greater cumulative exposure to these features was not associated with progression of CES-D over 10 years. Within-person increases in safety and in social cohesion were associated with decreases in CES-D, although associations with cohesion were not statistically significant. Social elements of neighborhoods should be considered by community planners and public health practitioners to achieve optimal mental health.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
WHO. The global burden of disease. 2004 update. World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland; 2008.
Blair A, Ross NA, Gariepy G, Schmitz N. How do neighborhoods affect depression outcomes? A realist review and a call for the examination of causal pathways. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2014; 49(6): 873–887.
Mair C, Diez Roux AV, Galea S. Are neighbourhood characteristics associated with depressive symptoms? A review of evidence. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008; 62(11): 940–946. 948 p following 946.
O’Campo P, Salmon C, Burke J. Neighbourhoods and mental well-being: what are the pathways? Health Place. 2009; 15(1): 56–68.
Beard JR, Cerdá M, Blaney S, Ahern J, Vlahov D, Galea S. Neighborhood characteristics and change in depressive symptoms among older residents of New York City. Am J Public Health. 2009; 99(7):1308–14. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.125104.
Galea S, Ahern J, Nandi A, Tracy M, Beard J, Vlahov D. Urban neighborhood poverty and the incidence of depression in a population-based cohort study. Ann Epidemiol. 2007; 17(3): 171–179.
Gary-Webb TL, Baptiste-Roberts K, Pham L, et al. Neighborhood socioeconomic status, depression, and health status in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study. BMC Public Health. 2011; 11(1): 349.
Aneshensel CS, Wight RG, Miller-Martinez D, Botticello AL, Karlamangla AS, Seeman TE. Urban neighborhoods and depressive symptoms among older adults. J Gerontol Ser B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2007; 62(1): S52–S59.
Bassett E, Moore S. Gender differences in the social pathways linking neighborhood disadvantage to depressive symptoms in adults. PLoS One. 2013; 8(10): e76554.
Albor C, Uphoff EP, Stafford M, Ballas D, Wilkinson RG, Pickett KE. The effects of socioeconomic incongruity in the neighbourhood on social support, self-esteem and mental health in England. Soc Sci Med. 2014; 111: 1–9.
King K, Ogle C. Negative life events vary by neighborhood and mediate the relation between neighborhood context and psychological well-being. PLoS One. 2014; 9(4): e93539.
Wee LE, Yong YZ, Chng MW, et al. Individual and area-level socioeconomic status and their association with depression amongst community-dwelling elderly in Singapore. Aging Ment Health. 2014; 18(5): 628–641.
Gary TL, Stark SA, LaVeist TA. Neighborhood characteristics and mental health among African Americans and whites living in a racially integrated urban community. Health Place. 2007; 13(2): 569–575.
Mair C, Diez Roux AV, Shen M, et al. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of neighborhood cohesion and stressors with depressive symptoms in the multiethnic study of atherosclerosis. Ann Epidemiol. 2009; 19(1): 49–57.
Ziersch AM, Baum FE, MacDougall C, Putland C. Neighbourhood life and social capital: the implications for health. Soc Sci Med. 2005; 60(1): 71–86.
Bassett E, Moore S. Social capital and depressive symptoms: the association of psychosocial and network dimensions of social capital with depressive symptoms in Montreal Canada. Soc Sci Med. 2013; 86: 96–102.
Roh S, Jang Y, Chiriboga DA, Kwag KH, Cho S, Bernstein K. Perceived neighborhood environment affecting physical and mental health: a study with Korean American older adults in New York City. J Immigr Minor Health. 2011; 13(6): 1005–1012.
Mair C, Diez Roux AV, Morenoff JD. Neighborhood stressors and social support as predictors of depressive symptoms in the Chicago Community Adult Health Study. Health Place. 2010; 16(5): 811–819.
Wilson-Genderson M, Pruchno R. Effects of neighborhood violence and perceptions of neighborhood safety on depressive symptoms of older adults. Soc Sci Med. 2013; 85: 43–49.
Mair C, Diez Roux AV, Golden SH, Rapp S, Seeman T, Shea S. Change in neighborhood environments and depressive symptoms in New York City: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Health Place. 2015; 32: 93–98.
Mair C, Diez Roux AV, Osypuk TL, Rapp SR, Seeman T, Watson KE. Is neighborhood racial/ethnic composition associated with depressive symptoms? The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Soc Sci Med. 2010; 71(3): 541–550.
Hernandez R, Kershaw KN, Prohaska TR, Wang PC, Marquez DX, Sarkisian CA. The cross-sectional and longitudinal association between perceived neighborhood walkability characteristics and depressive symptoms in older Latinos: the “inverted exclamation markCaminemos!” study. J Aging Health. 2015; 27(3): 551–568.
Evenson KR, Block R, Diez Roux AV, McGinn AP, Wen F, Rodriguez DA. Associations of adult physical activity with perceived safety and police-recorded crime: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012; 9: 146.
Kerr Z, Evenson KR, Moore K, Block R, Diez Roux AV. Changes in walking associated with perceived neighborhood safety and police-recorded crime: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Prev Med. 2015; 73: 88–93.
Latkin CA, Curry AD. Stressful neighborhoods and depression: a prospective study of the impact of neighborhood disorder. J Health Soc Behav. 2003; 44(1):34–44.
Melis G, Gelormino E, Marra G, Ferracin E, Costa G. The effects of the urban built environment on mental health: a cohort study in a large Northern Italian city. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015; 12(11): 14898–14915.
Saarloos D, Alfonso H, Giles-Corti B, Middleton N, Almeida OP. The built environment and depression in later life: the health in men study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatr. 2011; 19(5): 461–470.
Berke EM, Gottlieb LM, Moudon AV, Larson EB. Protective association between neighborhood walkability and depression in older men. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007; 55(4): 526–533.
Galea S, Ahern J, Rudenstine S, Wallace Z, Vlahov D. Urban built environment and depression: a multilevel analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005; 59(10): 822–827.
Kubzansky LD, Subramanian S, Kawachi I, Fay ME, Soobader M-J, Berkman LF. Neighborhood contextual influences on depressive symptoms in the elderly. Am J Epidemiol. 2005; 162(3): 253–260.
Bild DE, Bluemke DA, Burke GL, et al. Multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis: objectives and design. Am J Epidemiol. 2002; 156(9): 871–881.
TeleAtlas. USA_Geo_002 (Documentation for TeleAtlas products using Dynamap line files. Available at: http://www.geocode.com/documentation/USA_Geo_002.pdf. Accessed 8 Mar 2008.
Radloff L. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas. 1977; 1: 385–401.
Hek K, Demirkan A, Lahti J, et al. A genome-wide association study of depressive symptoms. Biol Psychiatry. 2013; 73(7): 667–678.
Lumley T, Diehr P, Emerson S, Chen L. The importance of the normality assumption in large public health data sets. Annu Rev Public Health. 2002; 23: 151–169.
Mujahid MS, Diez Roux AV, Morenoff JD, Raghunathan T. Assessing the measurement properties of neighborhood scales: from psychometrics to ecometrics. Am J Epidemiol. 2007; 165(8): 858–867.
Walls & Associates L. National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) Database: database description. Available at: www.youreconomy.org/nets/NETSDatabaseDescription.pdf. Accessed 23 Jul 2008.
Hoehner CM, Schootman M. Concordance of commercial data sources for neighborhood-effects studies. J Urban Health. 2010; 87(4): 713–725.
Bureau of the Census USDoC. Year 2000 STF1 and STF3. Washington DC: Bureau of the Census; 2000.
Bureau of the Census USDoC. American Community Survey 5-year small area estimates 2005–2009. Washington DC: Bureau of the Census; 2010.
Bureau of the Census USDoC. American Community Survey 5-year small area estimates 2007–2011. Washington DC: Bureau of the Census; 2012.
Moore K, Diez Roux AV, Auchincloss A, et al. Home and work neighbourhood environments in relation to body mass index: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). J Epidemiol Community Health. 2013; 67(10): 846–853.
Bureau of the Census USDoC. Year 2010 STF1. Washington DC: Bureau of the Census; 2010.
Hirsch JA, Moore KA, Clarke PJ, et al. Changes in the built environment and changes in the amount of walking over time: longitudinal results from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiol. 2014; 180(8): 799–809.
Allison P. Fixed effects regression methods for longitudinal data using SAS. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc; 2005.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by contracts N01-HC-95159, N01-HC-95160, N01-HC-95161, N01-HC-95162, N01-HC-95163, N01-HC-95164, N01-HC-95165, N01-HC-95166, N01-HC-95167, N01-HC-95168 and N01-HC-95169 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, by grants UL1-TR-000040 and UL1-TR-001079 from NCRR, by grant R01 HL071759 from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and by grant P60 MD002249 from National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and by grant 3P60MD002249-05S1 from the Environmental Protection Agency. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The authors would like to thank the other investigators, staff, and participants of the MESA study for their valuable contributions. A full list of participating MESA investigators and institutions can be found at www.mesa-nhlbi.org. We thank Shannon Brines and Melissa Zagorski for creation of the geographic information systems variables and Amanda Dudley for support with license agreements and data acquisition.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moore, K.A., Hirsch, J.A., August, C. et al. Neighborhood Social Resources and Depressive Symptoms: Longitudinal Results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. J Urban Health 93, 572–588 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0042-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0042-0