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Does Urban Sprawl Impact on Self-Rated Health and Psychological Distress? A Multilevel Study from Sydney, Australia

EcoHealth volume 8, pages 268–276 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Mental health can be influenced by a number of neighbourhood physical and social environmental characteristics. We aimed to determine whether urban sprawl (based on population density) in Sydney, Australia, is associated with self-rated health and psychological distress. We used a cross-sectional multilevel study design. Individual level data on self-rated health and psychological distress were obtained from the 2006 and 2007 NSW Population Health Survey. We did not find significant associations between urban sprawl and self-rated health and psychological distress after controlling for individual and area level covariates. However, positive neighbourhood factors were generally associated with better self-rated health and lower psychological distress but few of these associations were statistically significant.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the New South Wales Health Survey Program, Centre for Epidemiology and Research, for collecting the data and the Chief Health Officer, NSW Health for approving the use of the data.

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Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research, Evidence Management and Surveillance, Clinical Support Cluster (Western), LMB 7017, Liverpool, NSW, 1871, Australia

    Bin B. Jalaludin

  2. School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Bin B. Jalaludin

  3. Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, Glebe, NSW, 2037, Australia

    Frances L. Garden

Authors
  1. Bin B. Jalaludin
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  2. Frances L. Garden
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Correspondence to Bin B. Jalaludin.

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Jalaludin, B.B., Garden, F.L. Does Urban Sprawl Impact on Self-Rated Health and Psychological Distress? A Multilevel Study from Sydney, Australia. EcoHealth 8, 268–276 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-011-0699-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-011-0699-5

Keywords

  • Urban sprawl
  • Self-rated health
  • Psychological distress
  • Adults
  • Multilevel modelling