Evaluating the Connection Between the Neighborhood Context with Daily Negative and Positive Events and Well-Being

Abstract

An abundance of research documents that daily negative events are linked to short- and long-term health outcomes across adulthood. One key resource that is less studied in potentially mitigating the impact of daily negative events is neighborhood context. Up to this point, much of the research has included social characteristics of neighborhood context, whereas less is known regarding economic and physical characteristics. This study explores whether and to what extent social, economic, and physical neighborhood characteristics moderate the impact of daily negative and positive events on daily well-being as measured by daily levels of positive and negative affect. We use data from a sample of participants in midlife (n = 191, ages 40–65) who completed a daily survey for 30 consecutive days. Multilevel models showed that daily negative events were associated with poorer daily well-being and daily positive events were predictive of higher daily well-being. Living in a neighborhood with more income inequality was associated with stronger declines in daily well-being on days when individuals experienced a negative event. Neighborhood greenness was associated with reporting better well-being on days when a positive event occurred. The findings suggest that the neighborhood context can strengthen or mitigate changes in daily well-being when negative and positive events occur. The discussion elaborates on how the findings can inform interventions aimed at lessening the consequences of daily negative events and elucidates future research aimed at exploring potential mechanisms underlying the associations found.