مضرات محله و سلامت روان: نقش اختلال محله و روابط اجتماعی

Previous studies have shown that residents of neighborhoods with the concentration of poverty and female-headed households are at higher risk for depression. This study examines the effect of socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood on individual mental health by considering two possible mediating mechanisms: perceived neighborhood disorder and social relationships (social support and neighborhood social ties). The data were obtained from the 1995 Community, Crime, and Health survey sample consisting of 2482 adults and from a 1998 follow-up survey. Findings indicate that residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods have significantly higher levels of psychological distress than do residents of more advantaged neighborhoods with the introduction of social relationships and neighborhood disorder as mediators. Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with depression in three ways: (1) neighborhood disadvantage increased depression directly, (2) neighborhood disadvantage increased depression by way of neighborhood disorder, and (3) neighborhood disadvantage decreased depression through enhanced social relationships.

Neighborhood socioeconomic context is a social environment that influences human behavior and its outcomes. A sizable number of studies documented that living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood was associated with poor mental health. Robert (1998: 493) suggested that socioeconomic status of a community affects health status of its members by affecting the social and physical environments shared by all residents. Because psychological distress is expressed at the individual level, investigating the social mechanisms embedded in social and physical environments of neighborhoods can explain the way by which socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods influence individual mental-health status over and above individual characteristics (Diez-Roux, 2001). Two sociological principles are relevant. First, a perceived disorder in a neighborhood may account for the impact of neighborhood disadvantage on individual mental health because a lack of social and economic resources in a disadvantaged neighborhood contributes to the perceived breakdown of social control and order and a decline in individual mental health (Ross, 2000a). Second, social relationships may account for the association between a disadvantaged neighborhood and individual mental health because neighborhood disadvantage affects the prevalence and strength of social relationships. From the social disorganization perspective, a concentration of socioeconomic disadvantage in neighborhoods deteriorates a developmental process of social relationships (Sampson and Groves, 1989 and Shaw and McKay, 1942). Because individuals who have supportive social relationships show better health status, social relationships may account for the association between a disadvantaged neighborhood and mental health. Although both neighborhood disorder and social relationships influence how residents respond to social and physical environments of disadvantaged neighborhoods, little research has examined the role of both neighborhood disorder and social relationships on neighborhood disadvantage and mental health in a single study. It is also unclear how neighborhood disorder correlates with social relationships while they mediate the association between neighborhood disadvantage and mental health. Thus, this study tests the idea that neighborhood disorder and social relationships mediate the effect of a disadvantaged neighborhood on mental health using a large-size community data. Structural equation models were employed to test both the direct effect of neighborhood disadvantage on mental health and the indirect effects of a disadvantaged neighborhood by way of neighborhood disorder and social relationships.