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Neighbourhood social environment and depressive symptoms in mid-life and beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2011

MAI STAFFORD ,
ANNE MCMUNN  and
ROBERTO DE VOGLI
MAI STAFFORD*
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, London, UK.
ANNE MCMUNN
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK.
ROBERTO DE VOGLI
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Mai Stafford, MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, 33 Bedford Place, London WC1B 5JU, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This prospective study examines the relationship between aspects of the neighbourhood social environment and subsequent depressive symptoms in over 7,500 participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Neighbourhood social environment at baseline was operationalised using four items capturing social cohesion and three items capturing perceived safety and associations with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) at two-year follow-up were assessed. Friendship quality and personal sense of control were tested as mediators of this relationship using structural equation modelling. Neighbourhood social cohesion was found to be associated with reporting fewer depressive symptoms independent of demographic and socioeconomic factors and baseline depressive symptoms. Friendship quality and sense of control mediated this association. The study highlights that greater personal sense of control, higher quality friendships and fewer depressive symptoms are found in neighbourhoods seen to be characterised by higher social cohesion.

Keywords

friendsfriendship qualitysense of controlneighbourhoodprospective study
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , August 2011 , pp. 893 - 910
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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