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Neighborhoods and health
Author(s) -
Diez Roux Ana V.,
Mair Christina
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05333.x
Subject(s) - mental health , ethnic group , variety (cybernetics) , race (biology) , health equity , environmental health , affect (linguistics) , race and health , social determinants of health , gerontology , psychology , public health , medicine , sociology , computer science , psychiatry , gender studies , nursing , communication , artificial intelligence , anthropology
Features of neighborhoods or residential environments may affect health and contribute to social and race/ethnic inequalities in health. The study of neighborhood health effects has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. This chapter summarizes key work in this area with a particular focus on chronic disease outcomes (specifically obesity and related risk factors) and mental health (specifically depression and depressive symptoms). Empirical work is classified into two main eras: studies that use census proxies and studies that directly measure neighborhood attributes using a variety of approaches. Key conceptual and methodological challenges in studying neighborhood health effects are reviewed. Existing gaps in knowledge and promising new directions in the field are highlighted.