A Review of Evidence on the Relationship Between Neighbourhood Stressors and Depressive Symptoms

Baranyi et al., 2020

32,531 adults aged 50 years or older; Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, the Health and Retirement Study, and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

Depressive symptoms (self-report with CES-D Scale and the EURO-D Scale)

Perceived neighborhood nisorder, social cohesion

Gender, age, immigration, educational attainment, total equalized household net wealth, and economic activity, household non-pension net wealth, working, partnership, current smoking, and physician-diagnosed chronic conditions

There is a link between depressive symptoms in adults over the age of 50 and perceived neighborhood disorder and a lack of social cohesion. Additionally, analyses were conducted on individuals who were retired and it was shown that the risk of depression was even higher.

The social, environmental, and economic context of a country could modify the neighborhood characteristics and depression association.

Barr, 2018

20,745 Adolescents; Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Depressive symptoms (9 item version of CES-D)

Neighborhood disadvantage, neighborhood disorder

Neighborhood social cohesion/stability, foreign-born status, self-rated health, low weight birth, urbanicity, years the respondent lived at their address, family SES

When accounting for family SES and race/ethnicity, the relationship between neighborhood disorder and depression remained. Depressive symptoms peak in adolescence, drop off out of college, and increase in early 30s.

The differences in age and cohort related to depression symptoms could be related to timing of data collection.

Beck et al., 2017

165,600 Patients over the age of 18; Data from Virtual Data Warehouse of Kaiser Permanente (KP) of Colorado and Denver Health (DH)

Depression (individuals with at least one depression diagnosis code recorded during an outpatient visit)

Neighborhood-level data, neighborhood deprivation

Age, gender, race/ethnicity, chronic conditions, CCI, median household income, unemployment rate, crime rate, residential stability, foreign born residents, high school diploma, public assistance, poverty, households led by a single mother, and housing units that are owner-occupied

The Denver Health population was significantly more disadvantaged than the population of Kaiser Permanente. There was an association between greater age, female gender, the White race, lower rates of home owner occupancy, residential stability, and education, and medical comorbidities with higher depression rates.

The strongest association with depressive symptoms was individual factors. There may be a link between cultural barriers and the recognition of depression in the healthcare setting.

Bolstad et al., 2020

1,000 adults over the age of 65 who receive Medicare; Data from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging (SOA) in central Alabama

Depressive Symptomatology (Geriatric Depression Scale, Verified Diagnosis)

Neighborhood disadvantage-conceptualized using the NDI

Perceived neighborhood disorder, poverty, age, gender, race, education, and physical functioning

Symptoms of depression were prominent in mid/high disadvantaged neighborhoods. Those living below the poverty line were more likely to report both a diagnosis as well as symptoms.

Those who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods feel their depressive symptoms as routine and do not seek or have access to professional assistance.

Choi et al., 2021

4,898 Children; Data from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

Adolescent depressive symptoms (five questions derived from CES-D)

Neighborhood structural disadvantage, neighborhood collective efficacy

ACEs, socio-emotional problems, peer bullying, race, age, education, marital status, and gender

Neither neighborhood structural disadvantage nor collective efficacy was shown to be directly linked to adolescent depression. Children who live in a socioeconomically disorganized neighborhood are more likely to show poor socio-emotional development.

Implications are shown for interventions to promote support systems and neighborhood resources, bullying prevention, and childhood adversity screenings.

Cohen-Cline et al., 2018

7,476 Same-gender twins; Data from the Washington State Twin Registry

Depression (PHQ-2)

Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation

Income, gender, education, marital status, and population density

Greater neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with depression. Eight percent of the twins studied presented with depression. All neighborhood exposures showed significance with depression in the phenotypic model. No significance between neighborhood deprivation and age or gender was shown.

Lack of racial diversity could play a role in the results of studies that do not resemble the population properly. Studies could work to assess depression over time and test theories over the span of the study.

Coley et al., 2018

13,179 High School Students; Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Youth mental and behavioral health (CESD)

Family income, neighborhood income, school income

Youth age, race and ethnicity, number of household members, parent age, education, marital status, immigrant status, indicators reflecting parents’ primary reason for living in their current neighborhood, and school urbanicity

Schoolmate income had the most consistent correlation with mental and behavioral health outcomes. The effects of schools and peers on expectations and mental health are highlighted.

Using a large national sample allowed the opportunity to consider diverse youth across the United States.

Dawson et al., 2019

12,105 Adolescents and their Parents; Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health

Adolescent depressive symptoms (CES‐D)

Neighborhood structural disadvantage, parental‐perceived neighborhood informal social control and neighborhood disorder

Age, gender, race/ethnicity, family income, family structure, parent education, and parent occupation

Depressive scores in adolescents showed significance with all neighborhood level variables as well as parental-perceived neighborhood disorder. Higher parental perceptions of neighborhood disorder and cocentrated poverty were associated with depressive symptoms.

There may not be as strong of a link between family income and adolescent poverty as previously thought or between neighborhood structural environments on mental health as there is with concentrated poverty.

Do et al., 2019

Over 16,000 African Americans and 56,000 Whites residing in approximately 200 metro areas aged 25 and over; Data from the National Health Interview Survey merged with U.S. Census data

Psychological distress (Kessler 6)

Segregation measures- D- and P-indices, neighborhood poverty-census tract

Gender, age, marital status, employment status, family income to poverty ratio, education level, number of children in the household, total population, percent African Americans, and percent poor, and region of the country.

Neighborhood poverty levels do differ when associated with segregation and mental health. Higher segregation when adjusted for neighborhood poverty is shown to be associated with a higher chance of showing psychological symptoms in African Americans.

There is a salutatory association in the estimates. The impacts of concentrated poverty on psychological health as segregation increases for African Americans and not Whites. The level of disadvantage in poor neighborhoods and if it is more severe across those that are highly segregated is questioned.

Dowdall et al., 2017

11,955 Individuals aged 15 years and up; Data from South African National Income Dynamics Study and Indices of Multiple Deprivation

Depression (CES-D 10)

Area-level deprivation

Age, gender, marital status, employment status, education level and income

Those individuals living in more deprived neighborhoods showed higher levels of depression. Deprivation in the living environment and employment were shown to have the most noticeable relationship with depression.

Assessing and controlling poverty can result in less prevalence of depression in the community.

Erdem et al., 2016

18,173 People aged 16 years or older in the four largest cities in the Netherlands; Data from web-based questionnaire or personal interview

Psychological distress (Kessler 10)

Neighborhood social cohesion

Neighborhood deprivation, gender, age, ethnicity, marital status and years of residence in their current city, socioeconomic position, employment status, and financial deprivation

Neighborhood social cohesion modifed the association between financial deprivation/employment status and psychological distress. Higher social cohesion in neighborhoods was associated with lower psychological stress with those struggling financially, disabled, or unemployed and offered mental health benefits.

There is a need to gather more information on the different parts of social cohesion and its role in mental health.

Gepty et al., 2019

309 adolescents aged 12 to 13; Participants drawn from the Adolescent Cognition and Emotion (ACE) project

Depressive symptoms (CDI)

Crime statistics

Rumination, initial depressive symptoms, gender, race, age, and lunch status

Adolescents who are living in areas with higher violent crime rates were more likely to show symptoms of depression as long as there was higher rumination levels. Higher crime areas put adolescents at risk for showing symptoms of depression, and adolescents who ruminate are even more likely to show symptoms.

Violent crimes could be most impactful for adolescents who tend to ruminate their feelings. The results of this study are consistent with previous research on rumination and stressors.

Glymour et al., 2010

4,515 Noninstitutionalized U.S adults aged 55 to 65; Data from the Health and Retirement Study

Depressive symptoms (CES-D8); ADLs disability; Self-rated health

Neighborhood socioeconomic status: Census tract of residence; neighborhood poverty

Age, race, ethnicity, gender, education, immediate recall of a 20-word list, wealth, employment, marital status, and self-reported diagnoses of hypertension and diabetes

The neighborhood socioeconomic status of adults transitioning from late middle age to early old age did not predict onset of depressive symptoms or ADLs disability. However, residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods were at higher odds of onset of lower self-rated health.

Characteristics of the immediate residential neighborhood are particularly important for older adults. This study may fail to identify a short-term effect on depressive symptoms.

Goldstein et al., 2019

2,786 Students; Data from the NEXT Generation Health Study

Depressive symptoms (Wave 1- MDS, Waves 2-6, using PROMIS)

Neighborhood characteristics, social fragmentation

Gender, race/ethnicity, and family socioeconomic status

There was no evidence showing association between social fragmentation, income inequality, or median household income and levels of symptoms of depression. The distribution of symptoms of depression was very similar across quartiles for social fragmentation, median income, and income inequality.

There is some doubt on the existence of a relationship between social and economic disadvantage in the neighborhood and depression. Future studies could benefit from considering objective and subjective neighborhood measures.

Graif et al., 2016

4,248 adults in Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Baltimore; Data from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment

Mental Health (six symptoms, and WHO’s Composite Diagnostic Interview Major Depressive Episode Scale)

Neighborhood measures (immediate and surrounding neighborhood)

Age, gender, site, race, employment, education, and household characteristics

Lower mental health scores were prevalent in more disadvantaged, immediate neighborhoods. Descriptive statistics in this analysis showed evidence that better mental health conditions were shown in more affluent residential contexts.

The effect of immediate poverty on mental health is affected by the surrounding poverty.

Han et al., 2021

6,614 Dyads; Data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)

Depressive Symptoms (eight-item version of the CES-D)

Receipt and provision of spousal care, activity limitations

Age, race-ethnic status, education, marital status and duration, labor force status, memory-related disease, household income, number in household, and number of children living within 10 miles

One’s own activity limitation is shown to be associated with depressive symptoms in spouses. However, activity limitation in one’s spouse only showed association with depressive symptoms for wives.

There is a need for disability to be conceptualized as family-level and that it can have health implications for not only the person with the disability, but also those who are caring for and around them.

Hastings & Snowden, 2019

5,109 African Americans and Caribbean Blacks aged 18 years and older; Data from NSAL Survey

Depression (survey interviewers trained to diagnose disorders based on the DSM-5)

Neighborhood disadvantage

Age, education, household income, marital status, employment status, and immigration status

Caribbean Blacks showed higher prevalence, but not statistical significance, of past-year depression. A significant amount of Caribbean Blacks lived in neighborhoods with higher amenities. Perceived neighborhood social disorder and past year depression were statistically significant for low-middle SES.

There could be a difference in cultural understandings of resources which could alter results in studies. There is also an indication that neighborhoods are hard to measure.

Huang et al., 2018

2481 Mostly Low- Income Urban Mothers; Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

Health-related outcomes, depression (CIDI-SF)

Neighborhood level and social measures

Race, income, mother age, mother relationship to father, mother education, employment, and housing

Statistical significance was shown between exposure to violence and health outcomes. When known to be exposed to violence, mothers were 70% more likely to develop depression. The association between violence exposure and health problems became insignificant after adjusting for individual-level characteristics.

The relationship between violence exposure and health is confounded by neighborhood context.

James et al., 2017

73,225 Low-Income, Racially Diverse Individuals across the Southeastern U.S.; Data from the Southern Community Cohort Study

Depression symptoms (CES-D)

Neighborhood walkability

Age, gender, race, household income, marital status, smoking, and employment status

Participants who had higher odds of having depression that was doctor diagnosed as well as antidepressant use, lived in more walkable neighborhoods. An association between neighborhood walkability and increased depressive symptoms in areas with higher deprivation levels was seen.

Depression is affected by socioeconomic status when assessing neighborhood walkability.

Joshi et al., 2017

3,497 adults aged 65-75; Data from the New York City Neighborhood and Mental Health in the Elderly Study II

Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9)

Neighborhood-level poverty

Age, gender, education, race, neuroticism, and stressful life events to include recent divorce and illness

Neighborhood violence played a role in shaping neighborhood poverty, which increased the risk of depression in older adults. There was a positive association with neighborhood poverty and depression symptoms. Older adults lived in areas with higher homicide rates if they had experienced a higher number of stressful life events.

Investing in violence prevention in neighborhoods with higher poverty levels can reduce the violence and would have a secondary benefit of reducing depressive symptoms.

Kemp et al., 2016

156 Dyads(children and mothers) in Massachusetts; Data collected from a longitudinal study looking at child mental health outcomes for children of depressed and not depressed mothers

Child behavior problems, Childhood depression symptoms, Maternal depression symptoms/diagnosis

Neighborhood indicators- criminal activity, poverty, residential instability

Child age, gender, and maternal age, Maternal functioning-Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and family environment

A significant predictor of child mental health problems was neighborhood strain. Symptoms changed at similar rates regardless of neighborhood strain. Maternal functioning was shown to fully mediate neighborhood strain and child mental health problems.

It is possible that only some neighborhood factors have an association with depressive symptoms. It is also implied that neighborhood strain may impede maternal functioning.

Kim et al., 2020

12,998 adults over the age of 50; Data from the Health and Retirement Study

Physical health factors, health behaviors, psychological well-being, and social factors

Perceived neighborhood social cohesion

Sociodemographic factors, ethnicity, marital status, income, total wealth, educational attainment, employment, health insurance, and geographic region

Little evidence of an association between perceived neighborhood social cohesion and most physical health outcomes was shown. Perceived social cohesion did show to be associated with all factors associated with psychological well-being, psychological distress, and social well-being.

Perceived neighborhood social cohesion can influence health and well-being in positive and negative ways. Further research could benefit from assessing policy interventions on social infrastructure.

Kim et al., 2019

1,908 Mothers and Children; Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS)

Internalizing/externalizing problems (depressed behaviors)

Neighborhood poverty

Child’s gender and mother’s age, race/ethnicity, relationship status, education level, parental stress, whether or not mothers met depression criteria, and whether or not mothers moved between Waves 3 and 4

Internalizing/externalizing problems were prominent among children with poverty in the family. Negative correlations with low poverty neighborhoods, internalizing/ externalizing problems and neighborhood social cohesion and safety were shown. High poverty neighborhoods were associated with lower neighborhood social cohesion and safety.

Interventions should target child behavioral problems in families who are in poverty and neighborhood poverty. Neighborhood based interventions may be able to improve neighborhood social environment and reduce behavioral problems in children.

Klijs et al., 2016

71,058 adults; Data from baseline subsample of the Dutch LifeLines Cohort Study

The current episode of major depressive disorder

Neighborhood income and individual equalized income, social participation

Level of education, age, gender, marital status, chronic diseases, and lifestyle factors, and acute and long-term stress

Low neighborhood income and low individual income are associated with episodes of major depression. This association was lowered by adjustments for diseases, lifestyle factors, stress, and social participation.

Kim’s Conceptual Model of Absolute Poverty cannot fully explain the distribution of depressive episodes across neighborhoods by income.

Kowitt et al., 2020

1558 older adults in rural area; Data collected from a population-based prospective cohort of knee and hip osteoarthritis

Depressive symptoms (CES-D)

Neighborhood characteristics, perceived: neighborhood social cohesion, resources for physical activity, neighborhood safety

Race/ethnicity, education, BMI, gender, age, health insurance status, and number of comorbidities, knee OA status, mediators, physical activity, loneliness, and perceived individual control

Several neighborhood characteristics were associated with symptoms of depression. Physical activity, loneliness, and perceived individual control acted as a mediator for the effects of perceived neighborhood environment on symptoms of depression. Loneliness was shown to be the strongest pathway through which neighborhood characteristics influenced symptoms of depression.

Individual and neighborhood-level characteristics could be important for interventions in the future that are looking to improve outcomes of mental health. Interventions could benefit from putting a focus on modifiable factors that mediate relationships.

Mair et al., 2010

3,105 adults in the Chicago community

Depressive symptoms (CES-D11)

Neighborhood stressors, social support

Age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, marital status, and education

Most social support variables were associated with lower depressive symptoms in women. In contrast, perceived violence and physical disorder were moderately associated with higher depressive symptoms in all subjects.

Lowering neighborhood stressors and adding social support would likely reduce the depressive symptoms of this population.

Miao et al., 2019

2,167 older adults aged 60 and up from 172 neighborhoods; Data from Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey

Depression (Hopkins Symptom Checklist)

Neighborhood characteristics, social cohesion, and social engagement

Demographic characteristics, educational attainment, permanent residency, and Chinese Communist Party membership

There is a significant association between increased social cohesion and interaction with neighbors as well as volunteering. Lower SES neighborhoods had residents that reported higher social cohesion.

Having a sense of social connectedness is impacted crucially by having an extensive social network. The result of China being strikingly different from western countries is implied to be due to housing policy evolution.

Mondi et al., 2017

1,142 individuals (94% African American) who grew up in urban poverty; Data drawn from the CLS

Depressive symptoms (five-item modified version of the Brief Symptom Inventory)

Program and demographic predictors, childhood/ adolescence behavior, socioemotional adjustment

Gender, race, CPC preschool, and school-age program participation, family risk index, and ACE score

Gender, ACE score, socio-emotional adjustment in the classroom, juvenile arrest, and high school graduation were significant predictors of depression. Gender differences were shown as the male sample in the final model fit more appropriately. There was a significant association between gender and adult depression.

Different racial and ethnic minorities may have different significant predictors for depressive symptoms.

Moore et al., 2016

5,475 adults; Data from Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Depressive symptoms using the (CES-D)

Neighborhood characteristics

Age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, duration of residence in the neighborhood and study site, time-varying measures of household income, marital status, and neighborhood SES

An increase in depressive symptoms is shown over time. There was an association between higher safety and social cohesion with lower depressive symptoms scores at baseline for both individual perception and neighborhood aggregate and greater destination density and lower depressive scores for females.

The way a person perceives their neighborhood could affect their score on the CES-D scale. Further research should assess time frames and pathways in relation to neighborhood social environment and mental health.

Orstad et al., 2017

2,969 adults; Data from Chicago Community Adult Health Study

Minutes of walking physical activity moderated by depression symptoms (CES-D)

Observed neighborhood environment, perceived neighborhood environment

Age, education, gender, race/ethnicity, and marital status

The neighborhood environment is associated with physical activity levels through environmental perception and is mediated by depressive symptoms. Individuals with depressive symptoms are shown to occasionally use public spaces but use them differently.

Limitations include the idea that depressive symptoms are assumed to occur outside of the neighborhood but that exposure to high poverty neighborhoods can lead to stress and depression.

Osypuk et al., 2019

4248 Adult Household Heads; Data from Moving to Opportunity (MTO) for Fair Housing Demonstration project

Psychological distress (Kessler 6)

Neighborhood poverty

Demographic, socioeconomic, and housing preference variables, and housing discrimination

The effects of living in a low poverty neighborhood are more detrimental to mental health when there is more discrimination. No association was shown between variables and the treatment groups. Higher neighborhood poverty was shown to be associated with higher psychological distress and higher MDD.

Interpersonal racism research can result in a better understanding of the correlation between health and place/ neighborhood. This study aligns with studies that are showing that social and economic policies align with health.

Panaite et al., 2019

4,269 Patients with a unipolar depressive disorder diagnosis and an initial Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score ≥10; Data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse

Depression (PHQ-9)

Neighborhood characteristics

Age, gender, race, Hispanic ethnicity, census tract of home residence, and marital status

Greater neighborhood poverty did have an association with less likelihood of depressive symptoms. Percent poverty and percent home ownership were the neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics that showed statistical significance.

Neighborhood poverty is important to consider when assessing depression improvement.

Rabinowitz et al., 2016

775 Adolescents ages 10-12 years old; self-report questionnaires

Anxiety/Depressive symptoms (Mixed Anxiety & Depression subscale from youth self-report inventory)

Neighborhood social cohesion and neighborhood crime

Paternal diagnostic status, temperamental withdrawal, age, gender, ethnicity

Higher neighborhood social cohesion is associated with lower depression/anxiety symptoms. Adolescents who were experiencing higher withdrawal symptoms showed higher internalizing symptoms when associated with lower neighborhood crime and lower neighborhood social cohesion.

In communities with higher crime rates, parents may fear that boys are more likely than girls to engage in criminal activity and subsequently allow them out less.

Ruiz et al., 2018

11,391 adults aged 50 and up; Data from The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Depressive symptomatology (8 item version of the CES-D)

Perceived neighborhood social cohesion

Age, gender, White/non-White, diagnosis of depression from doctor, socio-economic and physical health indicators

There were differences in depressive symptoms at baseline and over 12-years when following for neighborhood social cohesion. There was shown to be a significant interaction between age on neighborhood social cohesion and symptoms of depression.

Self-reported measurements could lead to spurious association and attrition in participants over the course of the study.

Snedker & Herting, 2016

2,006 Adolescents; Data from three RY study sources that included adolescents from schools in the Seattle metropolitan area

General mental health of the youth (measuring psychological distress)

Neighborhood characteristics

Race/ethnicity, gender, age, household/parent structure, and measures of SES

Neighborhood context plays a role in the mental health of adolescents. A significant association is shown between emotional distress in adolescents and neighborhood disadvantage/advantage, instability, and heterogeneity. This association stays significant even when controlling for factors at the individual level.

There are limitations in the measurement of a neighborhood. Timing and location of data should be taken into consideration.

Solmi et al., 2017

14,062 Mothers; Data from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms (clinical assessments and postal questionnaires)

Maternally reported trajectories of neighborhood social cohesion, discord, and stress

Child gender/ethnicity, flu infection during pregnancy, parent age, maternal social class, academic qualification, marital status, house moves before pregnancy, childhood exposure to stressful life events, and maternal depression

Children exposed to greater social adversity had a higher chance of reporting psychotic experiences/ depressive symptoms at 13 and 18 years. Neighborhood stress was shown to be the strongest predictor of experience and symptoms. At 18 years, lower social cohesion and higher neighborhood stress were more strongly associated.

Psychological symptoms at 13 years might have less specificity than in adulthood towards clinical phenotypes. Families may have a role in buffering negative effects within the neighborhood in adolescence.

Stahl et al., 2017

1,049 adults aged 55 to 98 who lived in Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, PA, US in 2014

Depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire)

Neighborhood variables (physical quality and social quality)

Living arrangements, age, gender, race, education, and disability

Those who live alone experience higher levels of symptoms of depression and that lower perceived social quality correlated with higher symptoms as well. Higher neighborhood social quality was associated with fewer symptoms of depression.

It could be important for older adults that are living alone to live in neighborhoods that they see as being close-knit.

Tamura et al., 2020

2,209 African American adults; Data from the a study of African American adults from the tri-county area of the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area

Depressive symptoms (CES-D)

Perceived neighborhood social environment

Age in years, gender, high school graduation status, household income, BMI, alcohol use, smoking status, walking limitation, medical condition history, discrimination, stress, and physical activity

There was no significant relationship in the fully-adjusted model between neighborhood social cohesion and symptoms of depression. Having a high school degree and higher physical activity showed a negative association with symptoms of depression. Neighborhood violence/problems were shown to be related to symptoms of depression directly.

Further research should focus on neighborhood level interventions that could address features of the social and built environments that can alter neighborhood violence and alleviate the burden of depression.

Topalian, 2020

8,909 parents who reported for their child aged 12 to 17; Data from 2017 National Survey on Children’s Health

Lifetime Depression Questionnaire

Structural neighborhood factors-sidewalks, parks, community center, library, litter, rundown houses, vandalism

Gender, age, and race

9.4% of this study had reported depression. Females were more likely to have reported lifetime depression. Those who were at a higher risk for depression did not have a recreation center or community center in their neighborhood, had a litter on the street, had poorly kept neighborhoods, and had vandalism in the neighborhood.

There may be a relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and depression. As children become more independent, they should be assessed as their parents may have differing opinions or ideas.

Traoré et al., 2020

3,006 Individuals; Data from the SIRS study (a French acronym

for «health, inequalities and social ruptures»)

Depression (Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview module)

Neighborhood characteristics, neighborhood income level

Sociodemographic characteristics, social support, and difficult life events

Depression was more prevalent in deprived neighborhoods. An association was also shown between depression and negative perception of one’s body weight and feeling unsafe/perception of a deprived neighborhood.

Taking a cumulative approach to studying socioeconomic diversity can be beneficial when addressing multiple contextual characterizations of individuals.