Dataset Information

The protective effect of neighbourhood social cohesion on adolescent mental health following stressful life events.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Exposure to stressful life events is an established risk factor for the development of adolescent mental disorder. Growing evidence also suggests that neighbourhood social environments, including strong social cohesion, could have a protective effect on mental health. However, little is known about how neighbourhood social cohesion may buffer against the effects of stressful life events on adolescent mental health. Our aim was to assess whether neighbourhood social cohesion modifies the association between stressful life events and adolescent mental health outcomes.

Methods

Data were drawn from a nationally-representative prospective sample of Canadian adolescents, including 5183 adolescents aged 12/13 years at T1 and 14/15 years at T2. Caregivers reported neighbourhood social cohesion at T1, and exposure to stressful life events between T1 and T2. Symptoms of mental health and behaviour problems were self-reported by adolescents at T1 and T2. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine whether the relationship between stressful life events and outcomes was modified by neighbourhood social cohesion.

Results

Associations between stressful life events and adolescent outcomes were statistically significantly lower in neighbourhoods with greater social cohesion for: depression/anxiety (high cohesion OR = 0.98 v. low cohesion OR = 3.11), suicidal ideation (ORhigh = 1.30 v. ORlow = 5.25), aggression/conduct disorder (ORhigh = 1.09 v. ORlow = 4.27), and property offence (ORhigh = 1.21 v. ORlow = 4.21).

Conclusions

Greater neighbourhood social cohesion appeared to buffer the effects of stressful life events on several domains of adolescent mental health. This potentially presents a target for public health intervention to improve adolescent mental health and behavioural outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Kingsbury M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7322549 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The protective effect of neighbourhood social cohesion on adolescent mental health following stressful life events.

Kingsbury Mila M Clayborne Zahra Z Colman Ian I Kirkbride James B JB

Psychological medicine 20190610 8

<h4>Background</h4>Exposure to stressful life events is an established risk factor for the development of adolescent mental disorder. Growing evidence also suggests that neighbourhood social environments, including strong social cohesion, could have a protective effect on mental health. However, little is known about how neighbourhood social cohesion may buffer against the effects of stressful life events on adolescent mental health. Our aim was to assess whether neighbourhood social cohesion mo ...[more]

PMID: 31179962

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Project description:ObjectivesTo evaluate the psychometric properties of the Hong Kong version of Neighbourhood Cohesion Instrument (HK-NCI) and examine whether neighbourhood social cohesion as measured using HK-NCI would be associated with evaluative, hedonic and eudaemonic well-being.DesignA validation analysis followed by a cross-sectional analysis of a community-based survey.SettingCommunities in two districts (Sha Tin and Tai Po) in Hong Kong.Participants301 community-dwelling Chinese men and women aged 60 years and older normally residing in Sha Tin or Tai Po for not less than six consecutive months at the time of participation in the study were interviewed.MeasurementsNeighbourhood social cohesion was measured using the 15-item HK-NCI. The Social Cohesion Scale (SCS) and the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) were administered for assessing the validity of the HK-NCI. Evaluative (life satisfaction), hedonic (feelings of happiness) and eudaemonic well-being (sense of purpose and meaning in life) were examined. Socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle and health behaviours, medical history, and neighbourhood characteristics were used as covariates.ResultsFor homogeneity, internal consistency of HK-NCI (?=0.813) was good. For stability (test-retest reliability), the averages of mean scores of the 15 items suggested an acceptable repeatability with an intra-class correlation coefficient=0.701(95% CI 0.497 to 0.832). HK-NCI was correlated with SCS (r=0.515-0.635, p<0.001) and BSCS (r=0.500-0.612, p<0.001). Neighbourhood social cohesion was positively and independently associated with life satisfaction, feelings of happiness and sense of purpose and meaning in life (all p values <0.05). Stratified analyses indicated that neighbourhood social cohesion was more strongly associated with all dimensions of subjective well-being in 'young-old' subgroup, and with sense of purpose and meaning in life for women.ConclusionThe HK-NCI has adequate levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In addition, higher levels of neighbourhood social cohesion were associated with better subjective well-being among older Chinese people.

Project description:Chronic stress affects immune function and hormonal signaling and has been hypothesized to be associated with breast cancer, although results from the few prior studies are mixed and have not examined potential differences by estrogen receptor (ER) status. Using the Women's Health Initiative study, we included 76,951 postmenopausal women followed for events for a median of 16.7 years to investigate the association between baseline self-reported stressful life events and incident breast cancer by ER status and whether the association was modified by social support. We generated Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for demographic, clinical, lifestyle/behavioral, and social factors to estimate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The mean age was 63 (SD, 7.3), and majority of participants were White race (83.5%) and married or in a marriage-like relationship (63.0%). In analyses stratified by ER status, there was no relationship between stressful life events and ER-positive breast cancer. In contrast, compared with women in the lowest quartile, those in higher quartiles had an increased risk of ER-negative breast cancer, where those in quartile 4 had the highest risk (Quartile 4 vs. Quartile 1; HR = 1.30; 95%CI, 1.01-1.68; Ptrend = 0.050). Moreover, associations were stronger for the highest versus lowest quartile of stressful life events among widowed women (HR = 2.39; 95%CI, 1.29-4.44; Pinteraction<0.001). Association between stressful life events and ER-negative breast cancer was not modified by social support. In this cohort of postmenopausal women, higher experiences of prediagnostic stressful life events were associated with increased risk of ER-negative breast cancer.Prevention relevanceEpidemiologic studies on the association between psychosocial stress and breast cancer risk remain inconsistent, while investigation of whether the association differs by ER status is limited. In this prospective cohort of postmenopausal women, high experiences of stressful life events were positively associated with ER-negative disease but not ER-positive.

Dataset Information

The protective effect of neighbourhood social cohesion on adolescent mental health following stressful life events.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

The protective effect of neighbourhood social cohesion on adolescent mental health following stressful life events.

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