Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103414
Laurence Rowley-Abel , Chunyu Zheng , Kimberly More , Eleojo Abubakar , Chris Dibben , Jamie R. Pearce , Alan Marshall
{"title":"Neighbourhood social cohesion, loneliness and multimorbidity: Evidence from a UK longitudinal panel study","authors":"Laurence Rowley-Abel , Chunyu Zheng , Kimberly More , Eleojo Abubakar , Chris Dibben , Jamie R. Pearce , Alan Marshall","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103414","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103414","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of population ageing, multimorbidity is an increasingly prevalent public health issue that has a substantial impact on both individuals and healthcare systems. Alongside the literature looking at risk factors at the individual level, there is a growing body of research examining the role of neighbourhoods in the development of multimorbidity. However, most of this work has focused on physical features of place such as air pollution and green space, while social features of place have been largely overlooked. In this study, we therefore explored neighbourhood cohesion as a social neighbourhood characteristic that could influence multimorbidity risk. Additionally, we analysed how loneliness may help to explain any relationship between neighbourhood cohesion and multimorbidity, given the emergence of loneliness as an important risk factor for multimorbidity in individual-level studies. Using Understanding Society, a UK household longitudinal panel study of approximately 40,000 households, we conducted both multilevel cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to model these relationships. We found that there is a substantial association between greater neighbourhood cohesion and lower multimorbidity risk (odds ratio (OR) for second most cohesive quintile versus least cohesive quintile = 0.75, p < .01), even after controlling for a wide range of socio-economic factors, health behaviours and physical features of place. This cross-sectional result was confirmed by longitudinal analysis of individuals with no health conditions at baseline who moved between neighbourhoods over a nine-year follow-up period. Movers who experienced a decrease in cohesion had greater odds of becoming multimorbid compared to movers who did not experience a decrease in cohesion (OR = 1.68, p = .057). Controlling for loneliness substantially attenuates the odds ratios for neighbourhood cohesion, and in a mediation analysis we found a significant indirect effect of neighbourhood cohesion on multimorbidity risk acting through loneliness, suggesting it is a plausible mechanism through which the social environment influences the development of multiple long-term health conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103414"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143018814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103396
Lindsay Kephart , Vaughan W. Rees , S.V. Subramanian , Daniel P. Giovenco
{"title":"Exploring the association between neighborhood disadvantage and cannabis retail density: A multi-measure analysis","authors":"Lindsay Kephart , Vaughan W. Rees , S.V. Subramanian , Daniel P. Giovenco","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103396","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103396","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>There is growing interest in the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and increased cannabis retail density, driven by evidence suggesting higher density is associated with increased cannabis use. Yet little is known on how this relationship varies across different measures of cannabis retail density. This study explores how measures of neighborhood advantage and disadvantage relate to four cannabis retail density measures in the US.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Data on licensed recreational cannabis retailers (n = 5586) were obtained from 18 state agency websites, geocoded, and spatially joined to 3369 census tracts to calculate four retail density measures: count per tract, cannabis retailers per 1000 population, per square mile, and per 10 miles of roadway. Multilevel regression models assessed the association between three Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) measures—capturing tract concentration of racial and economic advantage/disadvantage—and the four cannabis retail density measures.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Census tracts with the highest concentrations of economic and racialized/economic disadvantage exhibited greater odds of increased cannabis retail density across all measures, compared to tracts with the highest concentration of advantage. Tracts with the greatest concentration of racialized populations did not show a higher count or density per population but did exhibit higher density per square mile and per roadway.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>On average, cannabis retail density is higher in neighborhoods with the greatest structural disadvantage. Researchers, public health agencies, and policymakers should use multiple measures of cannabis retailer density in surveillance and evaluation efforts to identify policy strategies that would most effectively reduce the clustering of cannabis retailers in areas primarily occupied by low-income or racialized populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103396"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142822962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103397
Ruth Sharman
{"title":"Who goes foraging in Bristol, UK and why? A qualitative investigation into wild food acquisition and food justice","authors":"Ruth Sharman","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103397","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103397","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent years, foraging for wild foods has grown in popularity in cities. Globally, urban foragers are diverse; motivations span contribution to the food basket, healthier living, and accessing urban nature. Research to date highlights ease of access across socio-demographic groups. There is little empirical evidence in the UK on how social identity intersects with the practices and meanings of foraging: who forages, what motivates them, and how are questions of equity understood? This paper takes a case study from Bristol (UK) to explore how foragers describe their motivations, their own and others social identities, and challenges of equitable access.</div><div>Data were generated from fieldwork with a foraging group and qualitative walking interviews (n = 15) in foraging locations. Qualitative thematic analysis identified three key themes; social identity, motivation and food justice.</div><div>Foraging in Bristol was framed as a lifestyle pursuit by the largely (self-identified) middle-class participants. Reported motivations centre on improving health through ‘nature cure’, exercising individual agency in food provision, and environmentalism. The rationales for foraging suggest subtle class distinctions in relation to food choices, and participants identify knowledge and experiential limitations, and sociocultural factors, as contributing to others' lack of access.</div><div>Findings contribute to the literature on urban foraging in the context of food justice. In one UK city, foraging was not primarily understood as a subsistence activity, but as a component of a particular lifestyle orientation. To improve equity of access to the subsistence benefits of foraging, better understanding of the social meanings attributed to foraging are needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103397"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142911192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103399
Lauren F. Murphy , Denise C. Fyffe , Rachel Byrne , Brittany Maronna , Amanda L. Botticello
{"title":"“Sometimes I just wanna be outside”: A qualitative analysis of experiences with accessing community greenspace among people living with chronic mobility disability","authors":"Lauren F. Murphy , Denise C. Fyffe , Rachel Byrne , Brittany Maronna , Amanda L. Botticello","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103399","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103399","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Exposure to nature is associated with better mental health in the general population, but prior evidence suggests that people living with severe, chronic mobility impairment from paralysis due to spinal cord injury (SCI) may not experience similar benefits. Since many people living with SCI use wheelchairs and other medical devices for mobility, further exploration of how people living with mobility disability experience greenspace is needed to achieve equity in access to all public places. We assessed experiences with accessing greenspace reported in a sample of people living with chronic SCI and the meanings they ascribe to these experiences for their health and quality of life. A thematic content analysis of the qualitative interview data from a mixed-methods study of community activity patterns among adults with SCI was conducted. Three major themes emerged: important accessibility features, strategies used to enable access, and psychosocial consequences of greenspace accessibility. These results suggest that people living with chronic mobility impairment have unmet needs for outdoor recreation that can be addressed through urban planning approaches that prioritize input from people with lived disability experience and universal design for creating equitable greenspace access, as well as ongoing policy work that aims to expand access to assistive technology needed for outdoor community activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103399"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142873689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103401
Karen Naes Aaserud , Marc Marí-Dell’Olmo , Laia Palència , Juli Carrere , María José López , Laura Oliveras
{"title":"Energy poverty and health inequalities in Barcelona: A cross-sectional trends study in the context of COVID-19, energy crisis and climate change, 2016–2021","authors":"Karen Naes Aaserud , Marc Marí-Dell’Olmo , Laia Palència , Juli Carrere , María José López , Laura Oliveras","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103401","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103401","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of this study was to analyse the time trends in Barcelona before and during the adverse context of COVID-19, energy crisis, and climate change in 1) the energy poverty (EP) prevalence; 2) the association between EP and health and 3) the impact of EP on health, according to the axes of inequality (sex, age, social class, and country of birth). We conducted a cross-sectional trends study using data from the 2016 and 2021 Barcelona Health Survey. This study clearly recognizes that EP continues to be an important public health problem in the context of Barcelona. The results show that EP did increase somewhat, though not as sharply as hypothesized in the current adverse context. Neither did it have <em>as</em> large consequences on the effects of EP on health as we expected to see. However, it demonstrates that there is still a strong association between EP and poor health, particularly in vulnerable groups such as people born in LMI countries and manual workers, who experienced an increase in the impact of EP on poor health outcomes, which suggests increasing health inequalities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103401"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142904577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103409
Fintan A. Mooney , Jill R. Kelly , Joshua L. Warren , Nicole C. Deziel
{"title":"Demographic inequities and cumulative environmental burdens within communities near superfund sites on Long Island, New York","authors":"Fintan A. Mooney , Jill R. Kelly , Joshua L. Warren , Nicole C. Deziel","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103409","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103409","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nassau and Suffolk Counties of Long Island, New York are densely populated and contain 34 federally-designated and 449 state-designated Superfund sites, potentially exposing communities to toxic releases. We conducted a distributive justice analysis assessing proximity to Superfund sites, community socio-demographics, and other environmental burdens. Socio-demographic and environmental variables for 665 census tracts were obtained from the United States Census and Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool. Hierarchical Bayesian spatial Poisson regression models evaluated the relationship between socio-demographic and environmental variables and counts of Superfund sites per census tract. Analyses were further stratified by county and site type (Federal versus State). A 10% increase in low-income residents was associated with a 47% increase in Superfund sites (Risk Ratio [RR]: 1.47; 95% credible interval (CI): 1.20–1.81). A 10% increase in Hispanic/Latino residents was associated with a 20% increase (RR: 1.20; 95%CI: 1.02–1.42). Higher PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations (RR:1.64, 95% CI: 1.09–2.48), higher toxic air releases (RR: 1.27, 95%CI: 1.03–1.61), and greater proximity to underground gas storage tanks (RR: 1.27, 95%CI: 1.09–1.48) were associated with increases in Superfund counts. Stratified analyses revealed that low-income residents are concentrated near state not federal Superfund sites. County stratification found that only Suffolk County residents near Superfund sites have increased lead exposure potential, and Black residents in Suffolk (not Nassau) were more likely to live near Superfund sites. We observed localized distributive inequities in community demographics near Superfund sites on Long Island, and communities near Superfund sites are more likely to experience other environmental burdens.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103409"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142974049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103415
Xinyu Kong , Haoying Han , Fangting Chi , Mengyao Zhan
{"title":"The association between neighborhood built environment and mental health among older adults in Hangzhou, China","authors":"Xinyu Kong , Haoying Han , Fangting Chi , Mengyao Zhan","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103415","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103415","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the context of population ageing, the age-friendliness of neighborhood built environment (NBE) is increasingly recognized as essential for enabling ageing in place. However, while much research has focused on the impact of NBE on the physical health of older adults, its relationship with mental health (MH) remains underexplored, especially the pathways through which NBE indicators influence MH. This study measured NBE using ten indicators across three categories: daily travel (including barrier-free travel, elevator, rest seat, diversion of pedestrian and vehicle, road surface and public toilet), healthcare services (including public canteen and elderly care), and social participation (including outdoor fitness space and indoor activity space). It examined the association between NBE and MH among 1405 older adults in Hangzhou, China, utilizing structural equation models to explore potential pathways. The findings revealed a significant and robust direct association between outdoor fitness spaces and MH of older adults. Additionally, physical health significantly mediated the association between road surface and MH, while social interaction played a crucial mediating role between public toilets, public canteens, elderly care, indoor activity spaces, and MH. Although the durations and types of leisure activities did not independently mediate the NBE-MH relationship, leisure durations effectively mediated it through both physical health and social interaction, whereas leisure types mediated it through social interaction. This study empirically supported the compensatory process and enabling process proposed by the ecological theory of aging, offering valuable empirical evidence to inform policies aimed at enhancing NBE to promote MH among older adults.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103415"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143026155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103406
Ana Ramos Velásquez , Marc Guevara , Jan Mateu Armengol , Daniel Rodríguez-Rey , Natalie Mueller , Marta Cirach , Sasha Khomenko , Mark Nieuwenhuijsen
{"title":"Health impact assessment of urban and transport developments in Barcelona: A case study","authors":"Ana Ramos Velásquez , Marc Guevara , Jan Mateu Armengol , Daniel Rodríguez-Rey , Natalie Mueller , Marta Cirach , Sasha Khomenko , Mark Nieuwenhuijsen","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103406","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103406","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Urban spaces need to be rethought to address growing health and environmental challenges. Urban density and transport systems contribute significantly to air pollution, negatively impacting public health. Barcelona has begun a transformation by introducing the Superblock model, an urban development with proven health benefits. However, there is a lack of understanding of the health impacts of various planned urban and transport interventions. This study aims to explore planned urban and transport developments in Barcelona (e.g. Superblocks, Low emission zone, tactical urban planning, port electrification) and estimates the health impacts of their related exposures.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We utilized modelled NO<sub>2</sub> reduction scenarios, which considered changes from implementing Barcelona's Urban Mobility Plan (UMP) of 2018–2024 and the Port electrification project. The UMP includes different interventions such as the low emission zones, tactical urban planning (reducing car traffic lanes), existing superblocks, and street greening. We established a baseline scenario for the year 2019, with no implementation of UMP or Port electrification. We devised three scenarios implementing the UMP: a) no change in private car use b) a 25% reduction in private car use, and c) a 25% reduction in private car use with port electrification. We estimated the effect on NO<sub>2</sub> levels and conducted a health impact assessment following a comparative risk assessment methodology to demonstrate the impacts of these scenarios on natural cause of adult mortality.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The scenario with no change in private car use resulted in a 5.9 % reduction in NO<sub>2</sub>, preventing 67 (34–133 95% CI) premature deaths annually. The scenario with a 25% reduction in private car use led to a 17.6% reduction in NO<sub>2</sub>, preventing 199 (101–392 95% CI) premature deaths annually. Adding port electrification to the 25% reduction in private car use scenario resulted in a 19.4% reduction in NO<sub>2</sub>, preventing 228 (115–447 95% CI) premature deaths annually.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Our findings suggest that implementing measures to reduce car use and electrifying the port in Barcelona can significantly reduce air pollution and prevent premature deaths in adults. This emphasizes the relevance of ambitious urban and transport policies in improving public health. Policymakers should consider assertive actions and broader implementation of such measures for greater health benefits. Further research is needed to explore additional measures and their potential impacts, facilitating the development of comprehensive urban and transport strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103406"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143076350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103418
Sergio Rivera-Rodríguez , Nelson Varas-Díaz , Sheilla Rodríguez-Madera , Mark Padilla , Kariela Rivera-Bustelo , Genevieve Reid , Adrian Santiago-Santiago , Claudia Mercado-Rios , Kevin Grove , Arturo Massol-Deyá , Rebecca Rodríguez-Banch , John Vertovec , Jeffrey Ramos
{"title":"Powering well-being: Energy independence and mental health in a zone of ongoing disasters","authors":"Sergio Rivera-Rodríguez , Nelson Varas-Díaz , Sheilla Rodríguez-Madera , Mark Padilla , Kariela Rivera-Bustelo , Genevieve Reid , Adrian Santiago-Santiago , Claudia Mercado-Rios , Kevin Grove , Arturo Massol-Deyá , Rebecca Rodríguez-Banch , John Vertovec , Jeffrey Ramos","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103418","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2025.103418","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The archipelago of Puerto Rico has faced multiple natural disasters, including hurricanes and earthquakes, disrupting the mental health and daily lives of its residents. These disasters, combined with socio-political abandonment, have led to the deterioration of the electrical grid, exacerbating health disparities. This study aimed to explore the linkages between natural and structural disasters, mental health, and energy independence in Puerto Rico. In this setting, the community organization <em>Casa Pueblo</em> has installed solar panels in the homes of people with chronic health conditions. Through ethnographic fieldwork in the town of Adjuntas and qualitative interviews with 45 individuals with different levels of access to solar power, we explore the implications of ongoing natural and structural disasters on the mental health of individuals and how access to solar energy could help mitigate their effects. Results indicate that participants with direct and indirect access to solar panels held positive and hopeful narratives regarding their mental well-being and quality of life. This innovative model of communal energy security through solar power for climate adaptation holds promises for enhancing mental health in the town of Adjuntas and potentially in other regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103418"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143030122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health & PlacePub Date : 2025-01-01DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103391
Frieda Haselbach, Kirsten Mehlig, Peter Friberg, Yun Chen
{"title":"Impact of neighborhood income inequality on adolescents' mental health. Results from the STARS study","authors":"Frieda Haselbach, Kirsten Mehlig, Peter Friberg, Yun Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103391","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103391","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over recent decades, there has been a simultaneous increase in income inequality and adverse mental health outcomes among adolescents in Western countries and especially in Sweden. Prior research on the relationship between income inequality and mental health has primarily focused on studies involving adults, yielding diverse findings regarding the nature of their association. Given the importance of relationships and comparisons to peers in immediate vicinity, we aimed to investigate the impact of neighborhood income inequality on mental health problems among seven-graders in Western Sweden. We used data collected in the STARS (STudy of Adolescence Resilience and Stress) cohort. A total of 1958 adolescents (mean age 13.6, SD = 0.4, 44% male) in 313 Demographic Statistics Areas (DeSO) were included. Adolescents answered questionnaires regarding stress and psychosomatic symptoms. Neighborhood income inequality was measured as DeSO-level's P90/P10 ratio, defined as the ratio between the 10th (highest) and the 1st (lowest) income decile. In a multilevel linear regression analysis, we found that higher neighborhood income inequality was related to lower stress and psychosomatic symptom scores after controlling for sex, individual parental income, and mean income and child poverty rate at DeSO-level. The associations did not differ significantly among DeSO-areas with different income or child poverty rates. Sex-specific-analysis revealed that the inverse association between income inequality and stress and psychosomatic symptoms was stronger in females than in males, but not significantly so. In summary, this study provided evidence supporting an association between higher neighborhood income inequality and reduced levels of seven-graders’ stress and psychosomatic symptoms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49302,"journal":{"name":"Health & Place","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103391"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142822979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}