Journal article
When does neighbourhood matter? Multilevel relationships between neighbourhood social fragmentation and mental health
VC Ivory, SC Collings, T Blakely, K Dew
Social Science and Medicine | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2011
Abstract
Studies investigating relationships between mental health and residential areas suggest that certain characteristics of neighbourhood environments matter. After developing a conceptual model of neighbourhood social fragmentation and health we examine this relationship (using the New Zealand Index of Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation (NeighFrag)) with self-reported mental health (using SF-36). We used the nationally representative 2002/3 New Zealand Health Survey dataset of urban adults, employing multilevel methods. Results suggest that increasing neighbourhood-level social fragmentation is associated with poorer mental health, when simultaneously accounting for individual-level confounding..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Maria Turley and Kylie Mason of Public Health Intelligence, Ministry of Health for preparing the Health Survey data. The 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey was funded by the Ministry of Health and the Crown is the owner of the copyright and the data. We would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. This research was funded by the New Zealand Health Research Council, as part of the Neighbourhoods and Health project within the Health Inequalities Research Programme.