ArticlePsychological medicine2019
Not urbanization level but socioeconomic, physical and social neighbourhood characteristics are associated with presence and severity of depressive and anxiety disorders.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Influence of Ambient Factors on Emotional Wellbeing of Older Adults: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Determinants and relationships of climate change, climate change hazards, mental health, and well-being: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Air pollution, depressive and anxiety disorders, and brain effects: A systematic review.Neurotoxicology · 2022Pooled it
- Social inequalities in antidepressant treatment outcomes: a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2020Pooled it
- Traffic Noise and Mental Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Evidence for Environmental Noise Effects on Health for the United Kingdom Policy Context: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Environmental Noise on Mental Health, Wellbeing, Quality of Life, Cancer, Dementia, Birth, Reproductive Outcomes, and Cognition.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Road Traffic Noise Exposure and Depression/Anxiety: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Urban Mental Health: Perspectives of Local Stakeholders on Factors That Shape Mental Health of City Residents.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- Exploring the Nexus Between Wider Housing Inequalities and Health: Evidence Mapping and Bibliometric Network Analysis.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Review
- Environmental moderators of neighbourhood socioeconomic inequalities in mental health: a systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Symptom severity, neighborhood crime, and neural correlates of reappraisal in patients with major depression and social anxiety.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Comparing Transdiagnostic Risk Factors: Predicting Emergence of Significant Depressive, Anxiety, and Substance Abuse Symptoms Among Juvenile Delinquents.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Insights from deep learning models on new-onset anxiety in patients following bariatric metabolic surgery.Journal of affective disorders reports · 2026Article
- The relationship between stressful life events and anxiety symptoms: a cross-sectional survey of university students in Botswana.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Cross-sectional analysis of neighbourhood profiles and mental health conditions in the USA: insights from the All of Us Research Program.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Neighborhood factors associated with late effects among survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- The role of neighbourhood greenspace quantity on mental health and cognitive development in early to middle childhood: a multilevel growth curve analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- Preventing common mental health problems by increasing neighbourhood socioeconomic status: a mental health impact assessment in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Neighborhood Cohesion and Symptoms of Anxiety Across Racial/Ethnic Groups in the United States.Journal of community psychology · 2025Article
- Noise and mental health: evidence, mechanisms, and consequences.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2025Review
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhich neighbourhood factors most consistently impact on depression and anxiety remains unclear. This study examines whether objectively obtained socioeconomic, physical and social aspects of the neighbourhood in which persons live are associated with the presence and severity of depressive and anxiety disorders.
methodsCross-sectional data are from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety including participants (n = 2980) with and without depressive and anxiety disorders in the past year (based on DSM-based psychiatric interviews). We also determined symptom severity of depression (Inventory of Depression Symptomatology), anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory) and fear (Fear Questionnaire). Neighbourhood characteristics comprised socioeconomic factors (socioeconomic status, home value, number of social security beneficiaries and percentage of immigrants), physical factors (air pollution, traffic noise and availability of green space and water) and social factors (social cohesion and safety). Multilevel regression analyses were performed with the municipality as the second level while adjusting for individual sociodemographic variables and household income.
resultsNot urbanization grade, but rather neighbourhood socioecononomic factors (low socioeconomic status, more social security beneficiaries and more immigrants), physical factors (high levels of traffic noise) and social factors (lower social cohesion and less safety) were associated with the presence of depressive and anxiety disorders. Most of these neighbourhood characteristics were also associated with increased depressive and anxiety symptoms severity.
conclusionThese findings suggest that it is not population density in the neighbourhood, but rather the quality of socioeconomic, physical and social neighbourhood characteristics that is associated with the presence and severity of affective disorders.
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