IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v85y2013icp43-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of neighborhood violence and perceptions of neighborhood safety on depressive symptoms of older adults

Author

Listed:
  • Wilson-Genderson, Maureen
  • Pruchno, Rachel

Abstract

Violent crime within a neighborhood as well as perceptions of neighborhood safety may impact the depressive symptoms experienced by community-dwelling older people. Most studies examining the influences of neighborhood characteristics on mental health have included either objective indicators or subjective perceptions and most operationalize neighborhood as a function of socioeconomic status. This study examines the effects that objectively assessed neighborhood violent crime and subjective perceptions of neighborhood safety in tandem have on depressive symptoms. The sample identified using random-digit-dialing procedures included 5688 persons aged 50–74 living in New Jersey (USA). Using multilevel structural equation analyses, we tested the hypothesis that higher levels of neighborhood violent crime and poorer perceptions of neighborhood safety are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, controlling for age, sex, and household income. Results supported the hypotheses. We conclude that interventions at the neighborhood level that reduce violent crime may be needed to compliment efforts at the individual level in order to reduce the depressive symptoms experienced by older people.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilson-Genderson, Maureen & Pruchno, Rachel, 2013. "Effects of neighborhood violence and perceptions of neighborhood safety on depressive symptoms of older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 43-49.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:85:y:2013:i:c:p:43-49
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361300110X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.028?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yen, I.H. & Yelin, E.H. & Katz, P. & Eisner, M.D. & Blanc, P.D., 2006. "Perceived neighborhood problems and quality of life, physical functioning, and depressive symptoms among adults with asthma," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(5), pages 873-879.
    2. Weden, Margaret M. & Carpiano, Richard M. & Robert, Stephanie A., 2008. "Subjective and objective neighborhood characteristics and adult health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 1256-1270, March.
    3. Clapp, John M. & Wang, Yazhen, 2006. "Defining neighborhood boundaries: Are census tracts obsolete?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 259-284, March.
    4. Cromley, Ellen K. & Wilson-Genderson, Maureen & Pruchno, Rachel A., 2012. "Neighborhood characteristics and depressive symptoms of older people: Local spatial analyses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2307-2316.
    5. Curry, Aaron & Latkin, Carl & Davey-Rothwell, Melissa, 2008. "Pathways to depression: The impact of neighborhood violent crime on inner-city residents in Baltimore, Maryland, USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 23-30, July.
    6. Parra, Diana C. & Gomez, Luis F. & Sarmiento, Olga L. & Buchner, David & Brownson, Ross & Schimd, Thomas & Gomez, Viviola & Lobelo, Felipe, 2010. "Perceived and objective neighborhood environment attributes and health related quality of life among the elderly in Bogotá, Colombia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1070-1076, April.
    7. Berkman, Lisa F. & Glass, Thomas & Brissette, Ian & Seeman, Teresa E., 2000. "From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(6), pages 843-857, September.
    8. Wen, Ming & Hawkley, Louise C. & Cacioppo, John T., 2006. "Objective and perceived neighborhood environment, individual SES and psychosocial factors, and self-rated health: An analysis of older adults in Cook County, Illinois," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2575-2590, November.
    9. Matheson, Flora I. & Moineddin, Rahim & Dunn, James R. & Creatore, Maria Isabella & Gozdyra, Piotr & Glazier, Richard H., 2006. "Urban neighborhoods, chronic stress, gender and depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2604-2616, November.
    10. Bowling, Ann & Stafford, Mai, 2007. "How do objective and subjective assessments of neighbourhood influence social and physical functioning in older age? Findings from a British survey of ageing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2533-2549, June.
    11. Scott Schieman & Stephen C. Meersman, 2004. "Neighborhood Problems and Health Among Older Adults: Received and Donated Social Support and the Sense of Mastery as Effect Modifiers," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 59(2), pages 89-97.
    12. Ziersch, Anna M & Baum, Fran E & MacDougall, Colin & Putland, Christine, 2005. "Neighbourhood life and social capital: the implications for health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 71-86, January.
    13. Walters, K. & Breeze, E. & Wilkinson, P. & Price, G.M. & Bulpitt, C.J. & Fletcher, A., 2004. "Local area deprivation and urban-rural differences in anxiety and depression among people older than 75 years in Britain," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(10), pages 1768-1774.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susan C. Hu & Yu-Hsuan Tsai & Der-Chiang Li & Wan-Chen Hsu & Nuan-Ching Huang, 2021. "Social-Economic Environments and Depressive Symptoms in Community-Dwelling Adults: A Multi-Level Analysis for Two Nationwide Datasets in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-11, July.
    2. Hooper, Alison & Hustedt, Jason T. & Slicker, Gerilyn & Hallam, Rena A. & Gaviria-Loaiza, Juana & Vu, Jennifer A. & Han, Myae, 2022. "Area Deprivation Index as a predictor of economic risk and social and neighborhood perceptions among families enrolled in Early Head Start," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Crifasi, Cassandra K. & Williams, Rebecca G. & Booty, Marisa D. & Owens-Young, Jessica L. & Webster, Daniel W. & Buggs, Shani A.L., 2022. "Community perspectives on gun violence and safety: The role of policing in Baltimore City," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    4. Won, Jaewoong & Lee, Chanam & Forjuoh, Samuel N. & Ory, Marcia G., 2016. "Neighborhood safety factors associated with older adults' health-related outcomes: A systematic literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 177-186.
    5. Sharifian, Neika & Spivey, Briana N. & Zaheed, Afsara B. & Zahodne, Laura B., 2020. "Psychological distress links perceived neighborhood characteristics to longitudinal trajectories of cognitive health in older adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    6. Meffert, Susan M. & McCulloch, Charles E. & Neylan, Thomas C. & Gandhi, Monica & Lund, Crick, 2015. "Increase of perceived frequency of neighborhood domestic violence is associated with increase of women's depression symptoms in a nationally representative longitudinal study in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 89-97.
    7. Baranyi, Gergő & Di Marco, Martín Hernán & Russ, Tom C. & Dibben, Chris & Pearce, Jamie, 2021. "The impact of neighbourhood crime on mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Alloush, Mo & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2022. "Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    9. Da-Hye Yim & Youngsang Kwon, 2021. "Does Young Adults’ Neighborhood Environment Affect Their Depressive Mood? Insights from the 2019 Korean Community Health Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Megan M. Shannon & Jane E. Clougherty & Clare McCarthy & Michal A. Elovitz & Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako & Steven J. Melly & Heather H. Burris, 2020. "Neighborhood Violent Crime and Perceived Stress in Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-11, August.
    11. Amber Pearson & Gregory Breetzke, 2014. "The Association Between the Fear of Crime, and Mental and Physical Wellbeing in New Zealand," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 281-294, October.
    12. Oscar A. Martinez-Martinez & Ana-Maria Vazquez-Rodriguez & Margaret Lombe & Pablo Gaitan-Rossi, 2018. "Incorporating Public Insecurity Indicators: A New Approach to Measuring Social Welfare in Mexico," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 453-475, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alloush, Mo & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2022. "Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Walsh, Kieran & Gannon, Brenda, 2011. "Perceived neighbourhood context, disability onset and old age," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 631-636.
    3. Won, Jaewoong & Lee, Chanam & Forjuoh, Samuel N. & Ory, Marcia G., 2016. "Neighborhood safety factors associated with older adults' health-related outcomes: A systematic literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 177-186.
    4. Samuel, Laura J. & Glass, Thomas A. & Thorpe, Roland J. & Szanton, Sarah L. & Roth, David L., 2015. "Household and neighborhood conditions partially account for associations between education and physical capacity in the National Health and Aging Trends Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 67-75.
    5. Scott, Stacey B. & Munoz, Elizabeth & Mogle, Jacqueline A. & Gamaldo, Alyssa A. & Smyth, Joshua M. & Almeida, David M. & Sliwinski, Martin J., 2018. "Perceived neighborhood characteristics predict severity and emotional response to daily stressors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 262-270.
    6. Curry, Aaron & Latkin, Carl & Davey-Rothwell, Melissa, 2008. "Pathways to depression: The impact of neighborhood violent crime on inner-city residents in Baltimore, Maryland, USA," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 23-30, July.
    7. Chaudhury, Habib & Campo, Michael & Michael, Yvonne & Mahmood, Atiya, 2016. "Neighbourhood environment and physical activity in older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 104-113.
    8. Lane, Anna P. & Hou, Yuting & Hooi Wong, Chek & Yuen, Belinda, 2020. "Cross-sectional associations of neighborhood third places with social health among community-dwelling older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    9. Oshio, Takashi & Urakawa, Kunio, 2013. "The association between perceived income inequality and subjective well-being: Evidence from a social survey in Japan," CIS Discussion paper series 579, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. Razieh Zandieh & Javier Martinez & Johannes Flacke & Phil Jones & Martin Van Maarseveen, 2016. "Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Oshio, Takashi & 小塩, 隆士 & オシオ, タカシ & Urakawa, Kunio, 2011. "Neighborhood Perceptions, Self-rated Health, and Personality Traits: Evidence from Japan," CIS Discussion paper series 531, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    12. Emma Bassett & Spencer Moore, 2013. "Gender Differences in the Social Pathways Linking Neighborhood Disadvantage to Depressive Symptoms in Adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-8, October.
    13. Eva Anna Christina Hart & Jeroen Lakerveld & Martin McKee & Jean-Michel Oppert & Harry Rutter & Hélène Charreire & Ruut Veenhoven & Helga Bárdos & Sofie Compernolle & Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij & Johannes , 2018. "Contextual correlates of happiness in European adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    14. O'Brien, Daniel T. & Farrell, Chelsea & Welsh, Brandon C., 2019. "Broken (windows) theory: A meta-analysis of the evidence for the pathways from neighborhood disorder to resident health outcomes and behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 272-292.
    15. Khaksar, Seyed Mohammad Sadegh & Khosla, Rajiv & Chu, Mei Tai & Shahmehr, Fatemeh S., 2016. "Service Innovation Using Social Robot to Reduce Social Vulnerability among Older People in Residential Care Facilities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 438-453.
    16. Cláudia Jardim Santos & Inês Paciência & Ana Isabel Ribeiro, 2022. "Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Processes and Dynamics and Healthy Ageing: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-26, May.
    17. Meffert, Susan M. & McCulloch, Charles E. & Neylan, Thomas C. & Gandhi, Monica & Lund, Crick, 2015. "Increase of perceived frequency of neighborhood domestic violence is associated with increase of women's depression symptoms in a nationally representative longitudinal study in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 89-97.
    18. Tyler P. Pittman & Candace I. J. Nykiforuk & Javier Mignone & Piush J. Mandhane & Allan B. Becker & Anita L. Kozyrskyj, 2012. "The Association Between Community Stressors and Asthma Prevalence of School Children in Winnipeg, Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, February.
    19. Gu, Naeun, 2020. "The effects of neighborhood social ties and networks on mental health and well-being: A qualitative case study of women residents in a middle-class Korean urban neighborhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    20. Bowling, Ann & Stafford, Mai, 2007. "How do objective and subjective assessments of neighbourhood influence social and physical functioning in older age? Findings from a British survey of ageing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2533-2549, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:85:y:2013:i:c:p:43-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.