Neighborhood Contexts and the Mediating Role of Neighborhood Social Cohesion on Health and Psychological Distress Among
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Neighborhood Contexts and the Mediating Role of Neighborhood Social Cohesion on Health and Psychological Distress Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Residents Rebeca Rios, Ph.D. & Leona S. Aiken, Ph.D. & Alex J. Zautra, Ph.D.
Published online: 26 October 2011 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2011
Abstract Background Neighborhood social cohesion (NSC) may contribute to understanding how neighborhood contexts influence the physical and mental health of residents. Purpose We examined the relation of NSC to self-rated mental and physical health and evaluated the mediating role of NSC on relations between neighborhood socioeconomic status, ethnic composition, and health. Methods A sample of 3,098 Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents within 597 census tracts in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona rated their health, psychological distress, and their perceptions of NSC. Census tract estimates provided neighborhood contextual measures. Results Neighborhood social cohesion was significantly related to better physical and mental health. Both individually rated NSC and neighborhood-level NSC mediated relations between neighborhood contexts and health outcomes. Substantive findings were consistent across Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents.
This research was based on the doctoral dissertation of the first author. R. Rios : L. S. Aiken : A. J. Zautra Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Present Address: R. Rios (*) Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Burn Center, 4940 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Conclusions The findings have implications for improving ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in physical and mental health through attention to social cohesion among neighborhood residents. Keywords Ethnic composition . Hispanics . Multilevel mediation . Neighborhood social cohesion . Self-rated health . Psychological distress
Life in the USA is replete with social and economic inequalities. Health disparities have been increasingly well documented for ethnic minorities and the economically disadvantaged. Relative to higher socioeconomic status (SES), lower SES is associated with poorer health [1, 2], lower life satisfaction [3, 4], and greater psychological distress [5, 6]. Racial and ethnic minorities in the USA achieve lower income and educational levels compared with non-Hispanic Whites, and Hispanics consistently report poorer self-rated physical health compared to Whites [3, 7]. However, despite relative economic and health disadvantage, rates of mental health problems among Hispanics and other ethnoracial minorities do not tend to reflect the expected mental health disadvantage based on socioeconomic group differences [8, 9], suggesting that factors other than SES influence healthrelated outcomes. Neighborhood social environments shape and perpetuate health disparities, beyond the influence of individual sociodemographic characteristics. Neighborhood economic disadvantage is associated with poorer self-rated health [10] and poorer m
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