African Americans, Caribbean Blacks, Depression, and Neighborhood Disadvantage

ABSTRACT Objective: We investigated whether neighborhood disadvantage served as a risk factor for depression. We were most interested in lower socioeconomic Blacks because low income Blacks disproportionately reside in disadvantaged neighborhoods and because, presuming that it is neighborhood characteristics themselves which yield adverse outcomes like depression, US housing policy emphasizes breaking-up poverty neighborhoods. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data that stratified the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) sample of 5,019 African Americans and Caribbean Blacks into lower, middle, and higher socioeconomic status (SES) subsamples. Results: After controlling for remaining individual demographic characteristics within SES strata, the association between perceived neighborhood social disorder and past-year depression was statistically significant for Low SES individuals (at or below the federal poverty line) (OR=1.73 [CI: 1.07, 2.81]; p=0.026), and at the boundary of significance for Mid SES individuals (between 100% and 300% of the poverty line) (OR=1.74 [CI: 1.00, 3.02]; p=0.049), but not for High SES individuals (at or above 300% of the poverty line) in this nationally representative sample of Black Americans. Conclusion: Results suggest, at least for low and middle income African Americans, that perceived neighborhood social disorder is a risk factor for depression and, insofar as they can improve neighborhoods and reduce neighborhood disadvantage, that housing and community development policies aimed at neighborhood improvement and poverty de-concentration may benefit the mental health of low-income African Americans and Caribbean Blacks especially.