Perceived neighbourhood affluence, mental health and wellbeing influence judgements of threat and trust on our streets: An urban walking study

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how people respond to different urban neighbourhoods. We explored whether participants’ mental health and wellbeing, judgements of resident wealth, family SES and sentiments reflected in descriptions of place features predicted in situ sense of threat and trust. Forty-six student participants walked in groups through 2 urban neighbourhoods, separated by a park, in the North West of England, noting responses at pre-determined stops. Significant differences existed in participants’ sense of trust and threat between the 2 neighbourhoods along with differences in perceived resident wealth and sentiments expressed. Participants’ levels of persecutory ideas and their sense of residents’ wealth predicted in situ trust in both neighbourhoods while level of personal resilience predicted the extent of threat felt in the more deprived neighbourhood. Demonstrating the value of the method, these findings have implications for the governance of urban neighbourhoods whereby obvious cues signalling a harsh environment need to be minimised to create more positive psychological responses to places.

Mental Health, Deprivation, and the Neighborhood Social Environment: A Network Analysis

“…It therefore appears that the effect of the neighborhood environment on mental-health operates as a function of overall deprivation, with associations between neighborhood components and mental-health symptoms becoming increasingly relevant as deprivation increases. This finding supports the idea of a tipping point whereby neighborhood environments that accrue too many negative characteristics (e.g., social disorder, low cohesion) begin to affect the mental health of inhabitants (Corcoran et al, 2018). The identification of where this tipping point might be and of how neighborhood characteristics and notions of social cohesion are emotionally weighted to determine their contribution to overall environmental stress (shown here in expressions of anxiety and paranoia) are clear areas for further research.…”

“…In a recent study by Corcoran et al (2018) using experience sampling methodology, it was shown that in situ judgments of neighborhood trust were strongly predicted by judgments of residents’ wealth and the participants’ baseline levels of paranoid ideation. In the same study, level of threat felt by the participants as they walked through a deprived neighborhood was significantly and independently predicted by self-reported personal resilience of the participants after controlling for other correlates such as family socioeconomic status (SES), weather, depression, anxiety, and baseline paranoia.…”

Understanding urbanicity: how interdisciplinary methods help to unravel the effects of the city on mental health

“…This may provide a much more fine-grained insight into how the effects of urban stressors identified in epidemiological studies depend on specific contexts (Söderström et al, 2016). Corcoran et al (2018) collected data on walkers' in situ judgements of threat and trust in two urban neighbourhoods, which differed in terms of deprivation. Perceptions of trust and threat were influenced by the perception of neighbourhood affluence, but also by the mental health and wellbeing of the walkers.…”

“…Corcoran et al (2018) collected data on walkers' in situ judgements of threat and trust in two urban neighbourhoods, which differed in terms of deprivation. Perceptions of trust and threat were influenced by the perception of neighbourhood affluence, but also by the mental health and wellbeing of the walkers.…”

The individual, place, and wellbeing – a network analysis

“…personal health, financial status) are more robustly associated with subjective wellbeing than community or place characteristics [ 11 ], others suggest that individual, community and place characteristics should not be considered independently from one another. This is because they likely operate in a complex system of reciprocal relationships [ 12 ] as can be shown in research using mobile data collection methods for example [ 13 ]. It is incontrovertible that one’s relative flourishing or languishing will depend, at least in part, on what resources we have available to us in our neighbourhoods and communities.…”