2025 Theses Doctoral

Risks and opportunities for mental health in the neighborhood: An exploration of residential segregation, social cohesion, and depressive symptoms among Latinxs

Diaz, Sarah Valentina

Background: In the neighborhood and health literature there has been extensive work on the benefits of neighborhood social cohesion on health in the United States (US) population and conversely the negative effects of residential racial segregation on health among African Americans.

Though Latinxs are one of the fastest growing populations in the US, there is limited research on what features of social integration may affect their perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion. Additionally, Latinxs are often treated as a monolith in spite of the heterogeneity of the ethnic group and the evidence of within-group differences in health outcomes. Finally, the impact of segregation on the mental health of this population is understudied, though past research has showed inconsistent findings.

Methods: In this three-paper dissertation I used the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a multi-site population-based study, and its ancillary Neighborhood Study collected in 2010 and 2016. The first paper examined the association between three indicators of acculturation and integration proxies (i.e. English language proficiency, perceived interpersonal discrimination, and density of social engagement destinations) and neighborhood social cohesion using multilevel linear regression models. The second paper examined the moderating effect of English language proficiency on the association between neighborhood social cohesion and depressive symptoms also using multilevel linear regression models. Finally, using inverse odds ratio weighting, a counterfactual approach, the third paper investigated the mediating role of neighborhood social cohesion and neighborhood problems in the association between residential Latinx-White racial segregation and depressive symptoms. Mediators were assessed at the individual and neighborhood level.

Results: In paper 1, results showed that interpersonal discrimination was significantly associated with lesser neighborhood social cohesion. In paper 2, I found that social cohesion was associated with lesser depressive symptoms, no matter the English language proficiency of the respondent. Lastly, in paper 3 the results showed that there was a direct and indirect association between segregation and depressive symptoms through neighborhood problems at the neighborhood level. There were gender differences in both paper 2 and 3.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that among US Latinxs, understanding neighborhood social cohesion and residential Latinx-White segregation represent opportunities for improving mental health, with implications for policy and social work practice.