Steptoe A, Feldman PJ. Neighborhood problems as sources of chronic stress: development of a measure of neighborhood problems, and associations with socioeconomic status and health. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2001;23:177-185.
This study in the United Kingdom investigated associations among neighborhood problems, socioeconomic status, and health. To measure neighborhood stress, the researchers developed a simple questionnaire and included it in a postal survey in higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES) areas in London. Respondents were asked to indicate on a three-point scale the extent to which 10 items (litter, smells, walking around after dark, problems with dogs, noise, lack of entertainment, traffic and road safety, places to shop, vandalism, disturbance by neighbors or youngsters) is a problem in their area. All measures of neighborhood problems were subjective. The authors did not conduct any direct observation of the neighborhoods where respondents lived.
As predicted, people living in lower SES areas reported more problems with their neighborhoods than did people living in higher SES areas. Neighborhood problems were not related to smoking, frequency of eating fruit or vegetables, alcohol consumption, or physical activity. Neighborhood problems were, however, associated with three other health outcomes: 1) self-rated health (21 percent of the people in the lowest neighborhood problem quartile reported fair or poor health, 34 percent in the highest neighborhood problem quartile reported fair or poor health); 2) psychological health (22 percent in the lowest problem quartile reported psychological distress); and 3) physical function (21 percent in the lowest problem quartile had impaired physical function, 37 percent in the highest quartile). Associations between neighborhood problems and these three health outcomes (self-rated health, psychological distress, physical function) remained after the authors took social capital measures into account. The authors commented that their results provide preliminary evidence that residential neighborhood problems constitute sources of chronic stress that may increase the risk of poor health.
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