Mental Health and the Interpersonal Environment: A Reexamination of Some Effects of Social Structure on Mental Health

Abstract

Despite much speculation in classical sociological theory, urbanization and industrialization are not systematically related to individual mental health. The "interpersonal environment" mediates between larger system properties and individual realities. Two kinds of interpersonal environments are noted in classical theory: a gemeinschaft environment of high social density, and an overlapping specialized social circle environment. Using stress reactions (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) of Vietnam veterans to combat as an example, it was found that social density predicts lower levels of stress reaction only in smaller cities and rural areas, whereas interaction with a circle of Vietnam veterans is associated with reduced distress in cosmopolitan metropolitan areas and with increased stress reactions in medium sized cities and rural areas. Because combat is exogenous to the men's current urban setting, the findings are less likely to be confounded by "drift" and self-selection. Implications for classical urban theory are developed. Social science has long attempted to relate individual mental health to various elements of social structure. While modernization, urbani