Neighborhood Influences Research Articles

Mothering in the Balmiki Community: Navigating Daughters’ Education in the Disadvantaged Urban Neighbourhood in Delhi

Studies have highlighted how the neighbourhood influences and shapes the overall development of its dwellers, particularly children and youth. One of the focuses of these studies has been mapping the negative impact and risks children and youth go through while living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. However, living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood only partially determines the effect. It can also be mediated or reconstructed by other social contexts, particularly family and parenting practices. The literature has shown the anxieties and helplessness of the parents, particularly mothers, but pays limited attention to the processes of negotiation mothers do within families and neighbourhoods. This article presents findings from a study that involves interviews with 30 resilient mothers from the Balmiki community living in diverse, underprivileged and stigmatized neighbourhoods in Delhi. Mothers who desire their children, particularly daughters, to live with dignity and get into modern occupations through competitive education feel further marginalized while living in the urban slums. This article explores mothers’ anxieties, apprehensions and fears while raising young daughters in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Delhi. It also aims to understand the mothers’ agency while addressing daughters’ safety and ensuring access, sustenance and completion of school education.

NEIGHBORHOOD ENVIRONMENTS AND COGNITIVE HEALTH: ADVANCEMENTS IN CONCEPTS AND METHODS

Abstract Evidence for the importance of residential neighborhood environments for cognitive health in older adults has grown substantially in the past decade. It is important to understand details of these relations, including timing and mechanisms, as interventions at the neighborhood level could have broad public health importance. Here, we present a series of five talks from four studies that aim to advance the field of environmental influences on cognitive health through several conceptual and methodological advancements: inclusion of lifecourse exposures (Cheng, Finlay), consideration of the role of race as a social construct and a modifier of neighborhood exposures (Cheng), incorporation of blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease as an outcome (Fan), consideration of spatial and historical context in interpreting results (Moored, Desjardins), use of qualitative interviews to gain insight from people’s lived experiences (Finlay), and use of novel exposures such as cognability (Finlay) and blue space (Moored, Desjardins) as well as upstream factors indicative of structural disadvantage (Cheng, Fan, Desjardin). Together, these talks will challenge the audience to consider the complex ways in which neighborhoods could influence cognitive outcomes and how to best approach analysis and interpretation of such data. Advancing our conceptual understanding of the influence of neighborhoods on cognitive aging over the lifecourse will allow for informed public health interventions. A discussion of next steps will be led by Jana Hirsch. Environmental Gerontology Interest Group Sponsored Symposium

A Novel Bayesian Spatio-Temporal Surveillance Metric to Predict Emerging Infectious Disease Areas of High Disease Risk.

Identification of areas of high disease risk has been one of the top goals for infectious disease public health surveillance. Accurate prediction of these regions leads to effective resource allocation and faster intervention. This paper proposes a novel prediction surveillance metric based on a Bayesian spatio-temporal model for infectious disease outbreaks. Exceedance probability, which has been commonly used for cluster detection in statistical epidemiology, was extended to predict areas of high risk. The proposed metric consists of three components: the area's risk profile, temporal risk trend, and spatial neighborhood influence. We also introduce a weighting scheme to balance these three components, which accommodates the characteristics of the infectious disease outbreak, spatial properties, and disease trends. Thorough simulation studies were conducted to identify the optimal weighting scheme and evaluate the performance of the proposed prediction surveillance metric. Results indicate that the area's own risk and the neighborhood influence play an important role in making a highly sensitive metric, and the risk trend term is important for the specificity and accuracy of prediction. The proposed prediction metric was applied to the COVID-19 case data of South Carolina from March 12, 2020, and the subsequent 30 weeks of data.

Influence of neighborhood on the longitudinal response of a building under wind action

As structures grow in height, the complexity of their design and structural analysis also increases. Specifically, the impact of wind becomes a crucial consideration in construction. This study aimed to examine how distances between adjacent buildings affect the longitudinal response of a standardized tall building, known as CAARC, under the influence of wind. Wind effect analysis was conducted in two main directions, with wind acting at 0º and 90º, considering three different neighborhood scenarios. Utilizing the force data obtained in a wind tunnel by Vieira (2016), computational analyses were performed using MATLAB software, combined with the High-Frequency Pressure Integration (HFPI) method. The results revealed that greater distances between neighboring buildings result in less impact on the analyzed building.

Nutrition Literacy, Neighborhood, and Diet

ABSTRACTObjectiveThis study examined the influence of nutrition literacy and neighborhood on diet quality within the Mexican‐origin population residing in the United States, addressing a gap in existing literature that lacks focus on specific Latinx subgroups.DesignThis study used a descriptive, correlational design to examine the relationships between nutrition literacy, neighborhood ranking, and diet quality.SampleA total of 130 Mexican origin participants living in the United States completed all components of this study.MeasurementsParticipants completed demographics, the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument (NLit), Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and Diet History Questionnaire III (DHQ3).ResultsCompared to the national average of 59, participants’ average score was 63.16. When examining subgroups of diet quality, participants scored poorly compared to the national average for saturated fats, seafood, and plant proteins. Nutrition literacy was a predictor of total protein foods, seafood, and plant proteins, while the ADI was a predictor of increased refined grains score.ConclusionThe present study provides insights about the influencing factors of diet quality in this population. Given the essential role diet has in shaping health outcomes and preventing chronic illness, addressing dietary subgroups within the Latinx population is critical to accurately informing nursing interventions and patient education.

Identifying critical nodes in multiplex complex networks by using memetic algorithms

The problem of dismantling multiplex complex networks, i.e., finding a minimal set of critical nodes to achieve maximum disruption, has received extensive attention because many real-world complex systems can more properly be represented as multiplex complex networks. However, most related studies mainly focus on the single-layer network dismantling, which ignores the inter-layer relationships of the real-world complex systems. Meanwhile, most of the existing network dismantling methods provide a set of critical nodes only considering a single predetermined measure such as degree centrality, betweenness centrality, or collective influence. Unfortunately, this approach is not universally valid, especially in the context of multiplex complex networks. In our study, a memetic algorithm (MA) that combines a group-based global search with an individual-based local search is proposed for identifying critical nodes in the multiplex complex networks, which may lead to a set of critical nodes considering different measures. In addition, we design an efficient crossover operator and a local search operator novelly considering the influence of node neighborhoods. We conduct extensive experiments by synthetic and real-world multiplex complex networks with different inter-layer linking properties, showing that the proposed MA method has better critical node identification capability than that of several state-of-the-art methods. We also analyze the characteristics of nodes found by our MA, indicating that the critical node set is not composed of a single predetermined metric, but a combination of nodes with multiple metrics. MA shows excellent performance in enhancing the robustness of beneficial networks and dismantling deleterious networks, especially in disassortative link networks.

Predictors and outcomes of adolescent alcohol and drug use: a scoping review

Abstract Background Adolescence is a pivotal life stage marked by educational advancement, entry into the workforce and formation of lasting relationships. Globally, adolescence is also the peak period during which individuals first engage in alcohol and/or drug consumption. This scoping review aimed to summarize existing longitudinal research on factors and outcomes related to adolescent substance use to identify gaps in existing evidence. Methods A scoping review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed. Additional studies were identified through hand-searching key reference lists and Google Scholar searches. A narrative synthesis was completed. Results 123 studies were included; 12 reviews and 111 cohort studies. 60% of cohort studies originated from North America, 29% Europe, 7% Australia/New Zealand, 2% South America and 2% Asia. Factors consistently associated with increased risk of ASU include male sex, increasing age, externalizing disorders, adverse childhood experiences and peer or parental substance use. Few studies considered wider community or neighbourhood factors. Early initiation and higher frequency of adolescent drug use were predictive of later-life substance use patterns, education derailment, contact with the justice system and mental health disorders. Conclusions The body of longitudinal evidence on adolescent substance use is rapidly expanding yet significant research gaps exist. Rising levels of cocaine use and its substantial health impacts motivate further research on all potentially important factors associated with cocaine use to guide interventions for prevention and treatment. Key messages • There are important gaps in existing research on adolescent substance use. • These include neighbourhood influences and factors associated with initiation of illicit drugs other than cannabis.

The effects of neighborhood perceptions on response to a technology-assisted parenting intervention for adolescent substance use: protocol of a diversity supplement to parent SMART (Substance Misuse in Adolescents in Residential Treatment)

BackgroundIt is well established that an adolescent’s neighborhood is associated with their likelihood of developing a substance use disorder. The availability of drugs, lack of access to resources, and exposure to violence are all associated with greater substance use among young people, leading to more pronounced health inequities. Technology assisted interventions (TAIs) have been touted to enhance the reach of substance use treatment and improve outcomes for high-need families living in underserved neighborhoods. A key question is whether neighborhood characteristics impact the effectiveness of TAIs, given these interventions are embedded within an adolescent’s natural environment. This National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded Diversity Supplement will examine the role of perceived neighborhood characteristics on response to Parent SMART, a TAI for parents of adolescents in residential substance use treatment (R37DA052918; PI: Becker). Aim 1 will use both adolescent and parent self-report of multiple neighborhood dimensions (e.g., physical environment, social disorder, satisfaction with community resources) to identify indicators predictive of treatment response. Aim 2 will then explore the indirect relationship between neighborhood context and response to Parent SMART, via engagement.MethodsParticipants include adolescent and parent dyads enrolled in an effectiveness trial evaluating Parent SMART, a TAI for parents of adolescents in residential substance youth treatment. Participants will complete self-report measures of neighborhood physical environment, social disorder, and satisfaction with community resources at baseline to predict parenting and youth substance outcomes at 6-, 12-, and 24-weeks post discharge.DiscussionTo date, few studies have explicitly tested how neighborhood affects response to TAIs for adolescent substance use. Assessing adolescent and parent perceptions of neighborhood characteristics holds potential to pinpoint key contextual factors that affect TAI response and to promote consideration of multi-level health equity determinants in substance use research. Understanding neighborhood influences can advance public health by helping tailor TAIs to address the unique needs of adolescents living in underserved communities.Trial registrationThis study extends the measurement and analysis plan of a pragmatic effectiveness trial. The pragmatic effectiveness trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05169385; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05169385

Suicide variations between English neighbourhoods over 2017-21: The role of spatial scale

Geographic studies of suicide variation typically focus on predictors at the same level as the event rates, and the possible interplay between different spatial scales does not generally figure. In this paper we focus on suicide variations between 6856 small area census units in England, but against a background provided by nine regions, broad urban-rural categories, and 155 local labour markets. Suicide death totals vary considerably between the small areas, with more areas than expected having no deaths, so we apply zero inflated regression. With this framework, we consider the relative contribution of factors at higher and lower spatial scales in explaining small area suicide contrasts, and why some areas have unduly elevated or unduly low suicide rates. We find significantly lower suicide levels in English metropolitan regions, after allowing for neighbourhood influences, but considerable heterogeneity in risks within broader spatial units. Varying incidence in general is associated significantly with all observed neighbourhood risk factors (social fragmentation, socioeconomic status, mental ill-health, ethnic mix), but low fragmentation and low psychiatric morbidity are the only significant influences on unduly low incidence.

Perceptions around sleep hygiene practices and beliefs among urban Black adolescents and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveThis study gathered adolescent and caregiver perspectives on sleep hygiene practices and beliefs for Black families living in low-resourced urban communities. MethodsSemistructured interviews were conducted with adolescents (n = 9) and caregivers (n = 9) from January-March 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interview questions included adolescent’s current sleep habits, barriers, and home and neighborhood influences. Trained researchers coded data using inductive analysis and a constant comparative method to derive themes. ResultsTwo themes focused on sleep hygiene practices, including items used to facilitate sleep (e.g., melatonin, electronics) and COVID-19 consequences on sleep schedules. Two themes focused on sleep hygiene beliefs, including a common value on the importance of sleep and influences on caregiver’s bedtime rules. ConclusionsFindings provide important insights on sleep hygiene practices and beliefs in a historically marginalized population of Black adolescents and caregivers in urban communities to inform targeted sleep interventions, policies, and programs for optimal sleep and well-being.

Partisan Conversion Through Neighborhood Influence: How Voters Adopt the Partisanship of their Neighbors

Partisan Conversion Through Neighborhood Influence: How Voters Adopt the Partisanship of their Neighbors

Understanding the Relationship between Environmental Factors and Mental Health Status among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Scoping Review.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with a wide range of health outcomes, including an increased risk of depression and anxiety and a decline in quality of life. Even though the significance of biopsychological factors in the mental health status of T2DM patients has been discussed in other studies, the role of environmental factors has been lacking. Therefore, this review aimed to identify the relationship between environmental factors and mental health status among T2DM patients. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews was utilized in this study. Using predetermined keywords, a systematic search was conducted on three electronic databases from 2005 to 2023, namely, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Articles written in English, and studies focusing on the research question are among the inclusion criteria. Ten articles were extracted that were relevant to the research question. Poor socioeconomic status, urban areas, the influence of neighborhood, greenness, and air pollution had associations with mental health status among T2DM patients. The possible implications of these factors for mental health demand further research and policy consideration.

The influence of the residential environment on well-being and personal projects: Perspectives of young people living in public housing

Public housing provides low-income households with affordable housing. The few studies of young public housing residents have focused on the negative aspects of these residential environments, such as the presence of economic hardship or substance abuse. Few studies have looked at the possible positive influence of public housing on the lives of the young people who live there. This qualitative study explores the influence of housing and neighborhood on the well-being and personal projects of young people living in public housing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 young people aged 14 to 20 living in public housing in a large city in Quebec, Canada. A thematic analysis led to the identification of five themes that describe the components of the residential environment that influence young people's well-being and personal projects: 1) parks, playgrounds and nature, 2) services and activities, 3) privacy, 4) relations with the neighborhood; and 5) the quality of the built environment. Implications for environmental psychologists and for improving public policies and supporting the well-being of young people living in public housing are discussed.

Neighborhood environment and quality of life of older adults in eastern Nepal: findings from a cross-sectional study

IntroductionQuality of life (QoL) is a subjective measure reflecting individuals’ evaluations based on their personal goals and values. While global research shows the role of neighborhood factors like ethnic diversity and socio-cultural dynamics on QoL, these are unexplored in the Nepali context. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between neighborhood environment and QoL among Nepali older adults in eastern Nepal.MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved 847 non-institutionalized older adults (aged ≥ 60 years) from two districts in eastern Nepal. QoL was evaluated using the 13-item brief Older People’s Quality of Life questionnaire, where a mean score of < 3 indicated low/poor QoL. The neighborhood environment, conceptualized across three domains (demographic, socio-cultural, and built environment), included ethnic diversity, connections with family, friends, and neighbors, cultural ties, residential stability, and rurality. Their association with QoL was examined using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsAround 20% of older adults reported poor QoL. Higher ethnic diversity (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 0.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.04–0.36), moderate contact with family and relatives (aOR = 0.26, CI: 0.11–0.61), and high contact with neighbors (aOR = 0.09, CI: 0.03–0.21) were associated with lower odds of poor QoL. Conversely, high contact with friends (aOR = 2.29, CI: 1.30–4.04) and unstable residence (OR = 6.25, CI: 2.03–19.23) increased the odds of poor QoL. Additionally, among the covariates, chronic disease, tobacco use, unemployment, and lack of education were also significantly associated with poor QoL.ConclusionOverall, the demographic environment, socio-cultural factors, and the built environment of the neighborhood influence QoL. Therefore, diversifying the neighborhood’s ethnic composition, promoting social connections such as frequent contact with family, relatives, and neighbors, and ensuring residential stability can enhance the QoL of older adults.

Influence of encoding and neighborhood in landscape analysis and tabu search performance for job shop scheduling problem

Fitness landscape analysis is used to understand search spaces of combinatorial problems that can hardly be solved exactly, such as the job shop scheduling problem. We analyze the influence of the solution encodings and the neighborhood operators on usual metrics for landscape analysis, and try to correlate the results to the performance of a local search method such as tabu search using these encodings and operators for a wide range of instances of the job shop scheduling problem.

Neighborhood influence on walking acceptability to bus stops in Hanoi, Vietnam

In Asian megacities, behind wide streets accessible by car, there are areas of narrow streets that are inaccessible by bus or car. This study investigates measures to improve access to bus stops in Hanoi from the perspective of the neighborhood environment of these residents. These results are expected to contribute to solving similar problems in Asian megacities. The survey divided residents into two groups, one group living on wide streets and the other group living on narrow streets in Hanoi, then obtained and analyzed data on their attitudes towards walking to bus stops through a questionnaire survey. The results revealed the following. The distance to the bus stop was accessible for both groups. Between the two groups, the attitude towards walking to the bus stop is more influenced by the location factor than the occupation (employee or student). Factors such as the benefits of walking, infrastructure, and security conditions play an important role in the decision to walk to the bus stop during the daily commute.

The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Suicide-related Emergency Calls in a European City: Age and Gender Patterns, and Neighborhood Influences.

Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis of suicide-related emergency calls in the city of Valencia (Spain) over a six-year period. To this end we first examined age and gender patterns and, second, the influence of neighborhood characteristics on general and gender-specific spatio-temporal patterns of suicide-related emergency calls. Method: Geocoded data on suicide-related emergency calls between 2017 and 2022 (N = 10,030) were collected from the 112 emergency service in Valencia. Data were aggregated at the census block group level, used as a proxy for neighborhoods, and trimesters were considered as the temporal unit. Two set of analyses were performed: (1) demographic (age and gender) and temporal descriptive analyses and (2) general and gender-specific Bayesian spatio-temporal autoregressive models. Results: Descriptive analyses revealed a higher incidence of suicide-related emergency calls among females and an increase in calls among the 18-23 age group from 2020 onwards. The general spatio-temporal model showed higher levels of suicide-related emergency calls in neighborhoods characterized by lower education levels and population density, and higher residential mobility, aging population, and immigrant concentration. Relevant gender differences were also observed. A seasonal effect was noted, with a peak in calls during spring for females and summer for males. Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for comprehensive mental health targeted interventions and preventive strategies that account for gender-specific disparities, age-related vulnerabilities, and the specific characteristics of neighborhoods.

Understanding molecular differences in endocrine and exocrine pancreatic tissue in healthy and unhealthy metabolic states

Type II diabetes (T2D) is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia largely due the development of insulin-resistance, and in some cases, due to insuffcient insulin secretion. The endocrine portion of the pancreas, the islets of Langerhans, is composed of a diverse population of cells (beta, alpha, delta) that play vital roles in glucose homeostasis. Intercellular signaling events that occur within this diverse cell population play an active role in T2D progression. Therefore, to properly understand the progression of T2D it is critical to understand the how both the cellular neighborhoods and cell-cell communications within the islet of Langerhans and the surrounding exocrine (non-Islet) tissue contribute to the development of T2D. As the pancreas is a heterogenous organ, techniques allowing for the identification of cellular subpopulations within the tissue, such as single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq), have been critical to answering questions about the pathogenesis of T2D. However, these techniques provide no insight into the anatomical and spatial context of cells, and therefore lack the ability to determine the influence of cellular neighborhoods in T2D pathogenesis. To begin to fill the gap in our understanding of how cellular neighborhoods and cell-cell communication impacts the progression of T2D, we utilized cutting edge technology that allows for the identification of RNA and protein within tissue at cellular and subcellular level, the Nanostring CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager. In this study, we aimed to determine if the location of individual cells within the islet (exocrine adjacent versus endocrine adjacent) contributes to gene expression changes that direct disease progression. To answer this question, we collected 200 human donor pancreases and analyzed them for 1000 RNA targets using the CosMX Spatial Molecular Imager. Ig. We then performed an analysis of RNA expression of exocrine cells bordering the islets of Langerhans and endocrine cells surrounding pancreatic vasculature was compared between healthy, metabolically heathy obese (MHO), and obese T2D groups. Preliminary analysis of these data yield novel insights into the transcriptomic profile of metabolically unhealthy tissues that may play a role in the progression of T2D. In particular, we observed an upregulation of mRNA transcripts associated with pro-inflammatory IL-21 and IL-22 signaling in the alpha cells from MHO donor pancreases. Furthermore, this upregulation is primarily observed in alpha cells in close proximity to acinar cells. Overall, these data will help pave the way to addressing previously unanswered questions in the context of T2D pathogenesis and unexplored cell-cell interactions that occur between the endocrine and exocrine spaces of the pancreas. Funding: Saint Louis University. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Neighborhood features moderate genetic and environmental influences on children's social information processing.

Neighborhood is a key context where children learn to process social information; however, the field has largely overlooked the ways children's individual characteristics might be moderated by neighborhood effects. We examined 1,030 six- to 11-year-olds (48.7% female; 82% White) twin pairs oversampled for neighborhood disadvantage from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children. We evaluated neighbor reports (N = 1,880) of neighborhood structural and social characteristics as moderators of genetic and environmental influences on children's social processing. Although there was no evidence of moderation for children's hostile attributions, there was robust evidence that the social and structural characteristics of the neighborhood moderated the genetic and environmental origins of children's positive expectations of aggressive behavior. Specifically, we found that genetic influences on aggressive expectations increased in the presence of neighborhood deprivation and decreased in the presence of protective social processes and availability of resources. Such findings suggest that protective neighborhood social processes may buffer against the development of aggressive expectations during middle childhood by suppressing the expression of genetic influences on those outcomes. In doing so, they suggest that neighborhood social processes may be able to promote youth resilience to neighborhood deprivation "under the skin." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring Gender Moderation: The Impact of Neighborhood Factors on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms.

Limited previous studies investigated the influences of various types of neighborhood factors on adolescent behavior problems. Meanwhile, although previous theoretical frameworks suggested that gender played a significant role in terms of neighborhood impacts on adolescent behavioral problems, few studies investigated the gender differences in such neighborhood influences. Using the year 9 and year 15 data of the national dataset Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS, overly sampled participants from low-income families), this study examined how the neighborhood structural and process factors can affect adolescent behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing symptoms) and whether gender worked as a significant moderator for such relationships in the U.S. Structural equation models and multigroup SEM were estimated (N = 3411). Findings suggested that residential instability was associated with increased levels of internalizing symptoms among adolescents at age 15, whereas neighborhood social cohesion was linked to reduced levels of externalizing symptoms throughout adolescence. Furthermore, the moderating effects of gender were found for the association between residential instability and internalizing symptoms. Implications of such findings are further discussed.