TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceived and Objectively-Measured Neighborhood Violence and Adolescent Psychological Distress
AU - Goldman-Mellor, Sidra
AU - Margerison-Zilko, Claire
AU - Allen, Kristina
AU - Cerda, Magdalena
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Prior research examining links between neighborhood violence and mental health has not been able to establish whether it is perceived levels of neighborhood violence, or actual levels of violent crime, that matter most for adolescents’ psychological well-being. In this study, we ascertained both perceived neighborhood safety and objectively-measured neighborhood-level violent crime (using a novel geospatial index of police-reported crime incidents) for 4464 adolescent respondents from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2011–2014). We used propensity score-matched regression models to examine associations between these measures and CHIS adolescents’ symptoms of psychological distress. We found that adolescents who perceived their neighborhood to be unsafe were two times more likely than those who perceived their neighborhood to be safe to report serious psychological distress (OR = 2.4, 95�% CI = 1.20, 4.96). Adolescents who lived in areas objectively characterized by high levels of violent crime, however, were no more likely than their peers in safer areas to be distressed (OR = 1.41; 95�% CI = 0.60, 3.32). Our results suggest that, at the population level, adolescents’ perceptions of neighborhood violence, rather than objective levels of neighborhood crime, are most salient for their mental health.
AB - Prior research examining links between neighborhood violence and mental health has not been able to establish whether it is perceived levels of neighborhood violence, or actual levels of violent crime, that matter most for adolescents’ psychological well-being. In this study, we ascertained both perceived neighborhood safety and objectively-measured neighborhood-level violent crime (using a novel geospatial index of police-reported crime incidents) for 4464 adolescent respondents from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2011–2014). We used propensity score-matched regression models to examine associations between these measures and CHIS adolescents’ symptoms of psychological distress. We found that adolescents who perceived their neighborhood to be unsafe were two times more likely than those who perceived their neighborhood to be safe to report serious psychological distress (OR = 2.4, 95�% CI = 1.20, 4.96). Adolescents who lived in areas objectively characterized by high levels of violent crime, however, were no more likely than their peers in safer areas to be distressed (OR = 1.41; 95�% CI = 0.60, 3.32). Our results suggest that, at the population level, adolescents’ perceptions of neighborhood violence, rather than objective levels of neighborhood crime, are most salient for their mental health.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Mental health
KW - Neighborhood
KW - Violence
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U2 - 10.1007/s11524-016-0079-0
DO - 10.1007/s11524-016-0079-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 27604615
AN - SCOPUS:84986292355
VL - 93
SP - 758
EP - 769
JO - Journal of Urban Health
JF - Journal of Urban Health
SN - 1099-3460
IS - 5
ER -