The Neighborhood and Mental Life: Past, Present, and Future Sociological Directions in Studying Community Context and Mental Health

Abstract

The two decade history of the ASA Section on the Sociology of Mental Health has coincided with a period of tremendous resurgence in the study of how neighborhoods and local places contribute to mental health—a topic that has become a popular focus for mental health sociologists. In considering the sociological contributions to this area of study, the present chapter has two aims. The first aim is to provide the reader with an appreciation of sociological research on local places and mental health. To achieve this, I discuss some important research streams of sociological inquiry on local places and mental health over the past 20 years as well as seminal scholarship that dates back to the start of sociology as a formal discipline. The second aim is to discuss future directions for research. In doing so, I identify several key conceptual and substantive issues that I argue are important for advancing sociology of mental health research on the consequences of local places—for mental and physical health.