Associations between neighborhood-level violence and individual mental disorders: results from the World Mental Health surveys in five Latin American cities

Sampson, Laura, Yu, Shui, Kessler, Ronald C., Zaslavasky, Alan M, Evans-Lacko, Sara ORCID: 0000-0003-4691-2630, Martins, Silvia, Andrade, Laura Helena, Aguilar-Gaxiola, Sergio, Cia, Alfredo, Medina-Mora, Maria Elena, Stagnaro, Juan Carlos, Torres, Yolanda, Viana, M C and Galea, Sandro (2019) Associations between neighborhood-level violence and individual mental disorders: results from the World Mental Health surveys in five Latin American cities. Psychiatry Research, 282. ISSN 0165-1781

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Abstract

Rapidly urbanizing areas of Latin America experience elevated but unevenly distributed levels of violence. Extensive research suggests that individual exposure to violence is associated with higher odds of both internalizing (anxiety and mood) and externalizing (substance and intermittent explosive) mental disorders. Less research, however, has focused on how neighborhood-level violence, as an indicator of broader neighborhood contexts, might relate to the mental health of residents, independently of an individual’s personal exposure. We used multilevel analyses to examine associations of neighborhood-level violence with individual-level past-year mental disorders, controlling for individual-level violence exposure. We used data from 7,251 adults nested in 83 neighborhoods within five large Latin American cities as part of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. Accounting for individual-level violence exposure, living in neighborhoods with more violence was associated with significantly elevated odds of individual-level internalizing disorders, but not externalizing disorders. Caution should be exercised when making causal inferences regarding the effects of neighborhood-level violence in the absence of experimental interventions. Nevertheless, neighborhood context, including violence, should be considered in the study of mental disorders. These findings are particularly relevant for rapidly urbanizing areas with high levels of violence, such as Latin America.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	Care Policy and Evaluation Centre
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	09 Oct 2019 11:06
Last Modified:	14 Sep 2024 07:59
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/101996

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