For older individuals, neighborhood characteristics may increase risk for depression, but the effect is modest.
Specific residential and neighborhood attributes have been associated with individuals’ physical and emotional health. To assess neighborhood social processes that might mediate risk for depression and that could eventually be targets for population-level interventions, researchers measured “collective efficacy,” which incorporates perceptions of social cohesion and informal social control. (For example, a neighborhood exerting high levels of social control might reduce the occurrence of stressful events, or the perception of these, and high social cohesion might buffer the effects of such events.)
To obtain data relevant to population-wide public health interventions, the investigators correlated the average perceived collective efficacy for a neighborhood with individual depression scores (on the Patient Health Quotient–9) from 4000 participants in the cross-sectional 2005 New York [City] Social Environment study. Findings were adjusted for demographic variables, individual perceptions of collective efficacy, and individual life events that might contribute to depression or a residential move. In the total study population, depression rates were not related to neighborhood collective efficacy. However, among those 65 or older, depression rates were estimated to be 6.2% higher in neighborhoods with the lowest versus the highest collective efficacy.
Comment: Previous researchers found that depression in older residents increased over time in certain New York City neighborhoods (JW Psychiatry Jun 22 2009). In contrast, the present study more precisely elucidates specific residential factors potentially contributing to depression. In settings of low collective efficacy, elderly individuals with little mobility and small networks are less likely to have social supports that might reduce risks for depression. Whether improving a neighborhood’s collective efficacy can reduce depression risk among senior residents remains unknown. Still, clinicians and social services should attend to the social networking needs of depressed individuals living in neighborhoods with low collective efficacy.
