Mental health, neighborhood and related social variables in Oslo

Abstract

The present study aims at screening the psychiatric morbidity in different areas of Oslo, relating the findings to qualitative aspects of neighborhood. The general hypothesis is that the risk of mental disorders increases by decreasing quality of neighborhood, possibly through negative impact on psycho‐social variables like social network.The sample which consists of 1,003 randomly picked adults from five main types of neighborhood is interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire, and a statistical procedure is applied to estimate, on the basis of symptom scores, the risk of being “a psychiatric case”.In short, the hypothesis is by and large confirmed by the study, indicating that the lower the quality of neighborhood, in terms of possibilities for recreation and social interaction, as well as private and public services, the higher the prevalence of mental disorder, treated as well as untreated. Unsatisfactory social network is related to low quality of neighborhood and seems to interact with negative neighborhood characteristics, increasing sharply the risk of mental disorder in low quality areas.Variables like sex, age, marital status, education or place of birth can not explain the differences in psychiatric morbidity between the qualitatively different neighborhoods, nor can variables indicating mental health problems before moving into the present neighborhood.