Community types and mental health: a multilevel study of local environmental stress and coping

Abstract

Research has found that neighborhood structural characteristics can influence residents' mental health. Few studies, however, have explored the proximal reasons behind such influences. This study investigates how different types of communities, in terms of environmental stressors (social and physical disorder and fear of crime) and social resources (informal ties and formal organizational participation), affect well-being, depression, and anxiety in adult residents. Data are from a survey of 412 residents nested in 50 street blocks. Block stressors and resources were cluster analyzed to identify six block types. After controlling for several individual- and block-level characteristics, results from multilevel models suggest that in communities facing relatively few stressors, higher levels of formal participation are associated with better mental health. Because high levels of formal participation were not found in communities with higher levels of stressors, the impact of participation in such contexts could not be examined. However, results suggest that in communities where stressors are more common, isolation from neighbors may have a protective effect on mental health.

Social safety, self-rated general health and physical activity: Changes in area crime, area safety feelings and the role of social cohesion

“…A Canadian study suggested that this might be the result of the fact that areas having high levels of social cohesion, as well as, concurrently, high crime levels or unsafety feelings do not exist in real life (Dupéré and Perkins, 2007) and can therefore not be studied. We found, however, that the areas with the highest levels of social cohesion were actually those with the highest increase in crime (not shown), therewith refuting the assumption made by Dupéré and Perkins.…”

The mediating role of social support in the community environment—psychological distress link among low‐income African American women

“…Relatedly, we had several inclusion criteria, such as being between the ages of 18 and 64 years, having no life-threatening medical condition, and having had a partner within the last year, which resulted in a somewhat biased sample and thereby limiting the generalizabiilty of our findings. Fourth, because data were collected from a single site serving low-income patients, there was likely little variability in the types of communities and socioeconomic strata among the study participants, and prior research suggests that community's effect on social support may be associated with community type (Dupéré & Perkins, 2007). Fifth, we did not have census data to construct aggregated-level variables of community disadvantage.…”

Multiple environmental burdens and neighborhood-related health of city residents

“…Dupéré & Perkins, 2007;Goldstein, 1989) in a fourstep procedure. First, the latest versions of appropriate datasets on road traffic noise, traffic-related air pollution and provision with near-residential public green space were selected from a Digital Environmental Atlas.…”