Ostir GV, Eschbach K, Markides KS, Goodwin JS. Neighborhood composition and depressive symptoms among older Mexican Americans. Journal of Epidemiologic Community Health. 2003;57:987-992.
This article examines the association between neighborhood composition (i.e., percentage of Mexican Americans living in a census tract, percentage of households with incomes below the poverty line) and depressive symptoms for older Mexican Americans. Data for the study came from a population-based study of Mexican Americans age 65 or older not living in institutions. The authors did not find support for one of their hypotheses-namely, that an increased proportion of households with poverty-level income is associated with increased depressive symptoms. A 10 percent increase in the percentage living in poverty was associated with a 0.76 point increase in the depressive symptoms score (range 0-60). The authors found some evidence that an increased proportion of older Mexican Americans is associated with decreased depressive symptoms. Older Mexican Americans who lived in census tracts with higher proportions of Mexican Americans reported lower levels of depressive symptoms.
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