Pathways from neighborhood characteristics to African American adolescents' mental health outcomes: A multilevel mediation path analysis

Guided by Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model, researchers are increasingly reporting the importance of considering how neighborhood environments may operate via more proximate mechanisms to influence individual health outcomes. In the current study, we tested a multilevel mediation model to examine how neighborhood characteristics may affect African American adolescents' mental health outcomes via their influence on adolescents' cumulative social support and perceptions of their neighborhood. Five hundred and seventy-one African American adolescents participated in the current study (mean age = 17.8, SD = .65; 52% female). Four neighborhood-level characteristics were assessed at the block group level using the 1990 US census data (US Census, 1990): percent of African American residents, residential stability, neighborhood poverty rate, and neighborhood unemployment rate. Our measure of social support was a cumulative measure that included support from four sources: mothers, fathers, peers, and natural mentorship. Five items were used to assess the extent to which participants felt their neighborhoods were supportive and cohesive (Buckner, 1988). Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory (Dergatis & Spencer, 1982). We found significant indirect effects linking residence in communities with more African American and residentially stable residents with fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety among African American adolescent residents. We also found indirect effects connecting residence in communities with higher poverty and unemployment rates with more depressive and anxiety symptoms among participants. Implications of study findings for intervention and policy affecting urban, African American communities will be discussed.