Do neighbourhood challenges affect the mental health of residents? Insights from the 2018 and 2021 Canadian Housing Surveys

Neighbourhood physical and social disorders are shown to have adverse impacts on residents’ mental health. Identifying and addressing neighbourhood challenges is crucial for promoting social cohesion and mental well-being. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on this important topic within Canada, prompting a comprehensive evaluation of the association between neighbourhoods’ challenges and self-rated mental health. Using the 2018 (N = 61,021) and 2021(N = 40,988) Canadian Housing Surveys and employing logistic regression models for comparative analysis, we found that residents of neighbourhoods with challenges including harassment, drug use, drunkenness, unsafeness at night, noise, smog/air pollution, garbage litter, and vandalism, reported lower odds of positive mental health (PMH) both pre-pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, females reported lower odds of PMH both pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. However, residents with post-secondary educational attainment, those from wealthy households, and those in two-member households, significantly reported PMH before and during the pandemic. Civic engagement with the local community also correlated more with PMH, but pre-pandemic only. Provincial variations were further observed. Thus, we concluded that neighbourhood challenges contribute to poor mental health. Socio-economic and provincial differences underscore the importance of tailored interventions and support systems for mental health across regions. However, it is important to highlight that the self-reported nature of our data may result in biased perceptions. That is, participants’ existing poorer mental health status may influence their opinions about the neighbourhoods. Also, the tendency of social desirability to influence responses may suggest a bidirectional neighbourhood-mental health relationship.