Perceived Neighborhood Problems Research Articles

532: Perceived Neighborhood Problems and Depressive Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Physical Functioning: Prospective Evidence from a Study of Adults with Asthma

532: Perceived Neighborhood Problems and Depressive Symptoms, Quality of Life, and Physical Functioning: Prospective Evidence from a Study of Adults with Asthma

Neighborhood problems and health among older adults: received and donated social support and the sense of mastery as effect modifiers.

This study examines the associations between perceived neighborhood problems and mental and physical health, exploring the extent to which received social support, donated social support, and the sense of mastery moderate those associations. In 2001-2002, face-to-face interviews were conducted with a sample of 1,167 adults over age 65 in several counties in Maryland and the District of Columbia. For men, received support and perceived mastery buffer against the detrimental effects of neighborhood problems on anger. In contrast, donated support exacerbates the negative physical health effects of neighborhood problems. For women, donated support amplifies the effects of neighborhood problems on anger. However, with anger and depression, the buffering effects of received support become evident only after accounting for the interaction between neighborhood problems and donated support. The findings have implications for the stress process model, the theoretical perspectives on different forms of social support, and the "buffering" and "cost of caring" predictions for women and men.

A multilevel analysis of neighborhood context and youth alcohol and drug problems.

Various sources of data were used to examine hypothesized relations among neighborhood variables and youth alcohol and drug problems. Family members (N = 1186) were from 55 neighborhoods: 57% female, 41% African American, and 59% White. Data were clustered by neighborhood and analyzed within a multilevel design. At the neighborhood level, the study examined relations among poverty, stores selling alcohol, neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood problems with youth alcohol and drug use, and drug and alcohol arrests. At the individual level, gender, ethnicity, adult versus child status, neighborhood social cohesion, and neighborhood problems were examined. Results indicated that more stores sold alcohol in higher poverty neighborhoods, which was associated with less social cohesion. Lower social cohesion was related to greater perceived neighborhood problems with youth alcohol and drug use, which was positively related to neighborhood youth drug and alcohol arrests. The study showed significant variation across neighborhoods and demonstrates the utility of combining different sources of neighborhood data to examine relations of interest.