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Articles in Neighborhood social and physical disorder adversely affects mental health, which also leads to other negative health outcomes.

  • The daily stress of living in a neighborhood where residential mobility and material deprivation prevail is associated with depression.

    Matheson FI, Moineddin R, Dunn JR, Creatore MI, Gozdyra P, Glazier RH. 2006. Urban neighborhoods, chronic stress, gender and depression. Social Science & Medicine 63(10):2604-2616.

  • In low-socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods, the cumulative incidence of depression was almost twice as high as that in high-SES neighborhoods.

    Galea S, Ahern J, Nandi A, Tracy M, Beard J, Vlahov D. 2007. Urban neighborhood poverty and the incidence of depression in a population based cohort study. Annals of Epidemiology 17(3):171-179.

  • Individuals living in the least problematic neighborhoods were significantly less likely to be depressed, to smoke, or to drink, with the relationships persisting after adjusting for individual-level variables.

    Echeverria S, Diez-Roux AV, Shea S, Borrell LN, Jackson S. 2008. Associations of neighborhood problems and neighborhood social cohesion with mental health and health behaviors: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Health & Place 14(4):853-865

  • Neighborhoods with poor-quality housing, few resources, and unsafe conditions impose stress, which can lead to depression. Adverse neighborhoods appear to intensify the harmful impact of personal stressors and interfere with the formation of bonds between people, again increasing risk of depression.

    Cutrona CE, Wallace G, Wesner KA. 2006. Neighborhood characteristics and depression - An examination of stress processes. Current Directions in Psychological Science 15 (4):188-192.

  • Concentrated disadvantage was associated with more mental health problems in youth and a higher number of children in the clinical range, after accounting for family demographic characteristics, maternal depression, and earlier child mental health scores.

    Xue YG, Leventhal T, Brooks-Gunn J, Earls FJ. 2005. Neighborhood residence and mental health problems of 5-to 11-year-olds. Archives of General Psychiatry 62 (5):554-563.

  • Controlling for individual-level variables, neighborhood deprivation was associated with lower serum levels of carotenoids, which play a protective role in the development of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammatory diseases.

    Stimpson JP, Nash AC, Ju H, Eschbach K. 2007. Neighborhood deprivation is associated with lower levels of serum carotenoids among adults participating in the third national health and nutrition examination survey. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 107:1895-1902.

  • A disadvantaged neighborhood exposes residents to chronic stressors in the form of crime, trouble, harassment, and other potentially distressing signs of disorder and decay. The stress response occurs in the body and brain in the form of fearful anxiety and depression, dizziness, chest pains, trouble breathing, nausea, upset stomach, and weakness, leading to poor health.

    Hill TD, Ross CE, Angel RJ. 2005. Neighborhood disorder, psychophysiological distress, and health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46 (2):170-186.