Can neighborhood green space mitigate health inequalities? A study of socio-economic status and mental health

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.01.002

Health & Place

Volume 38, March 2016, Pages 16-21

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.01.002 Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined whether the association of psychological distress with area-level socio-economic status (SES) was moderated by the area and attractiveness of local green space. As expected, the odds of higher psychological distress was higher in residents in lower SES areas than those in higher SES areas. However, our results were inconclusive with regard to the moderating role of green space in the relationship between psychological distress and SES. Further investigations incorporating safety and maintenance features of green space and street-level greenery are warranted.

Section snippets

Background

Socio-economic disparities in health persist in society, and reducing health inequalities is recognized as a critical strategy for population health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013, Marmot and Bell, 2012, National Preventative Health Taskforce, 2009). Despite public health efforts to reduce inequalities, systematic and avoidable health disparities exist between people of lower and higher levels socio-economic status (SES), who in definition differ in terms of access to

Data source and participants

This study forms part of the Life Course Built Environment and Health project, a cross-sectional data linkage study exploring associations between built environment features and health across different life stages (children through to older adults) in Perth, Western Australia. The overall project methods are described in detail elsewhere (Villanueva et al., 2013). Briefly, participants were those who completed the Western Australian Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System (HWSS) survey,

Results

Table 1 shows the characteristics of the study sample. In total, slightly less than three quarters of participants reported low psychological distress. The distribution of psychological distress levels varied by IRSD quartiles as shown in Fig. 1 (unadjusted, chi-square: p<0.001). Table 2 shows park variables for each buffer area and each IRSD quartile. The total park area was larger for participants living in the highest IRSD areas. However, mean attractiveness score tended to be slightly

Discussion

This study explored whether characteristics of local green space (total area, mean attractiveness, highest attractiveness) within a range of buffers moderate the relationship between area-level SES and residents' psychological distress. As anticipated, we found that residents in lower SES areas were significantly more likely to have higher psychological distress than those in higher SES areas. Building on previous studies (Mitchell and Popham, 2008, Mitchell et al., 2015), we hypothesized first

Acknowledgments

The Department of Health of Western Australia and the WA Data Linkage Branch are gratefully acknowledged for providing the HWSS data. Spatial data were created based on information provided by and with the permission of the Western Australian Land Information Authority. Nick Middleton is gratefully acknowledged for his role in developing GIS scripts used for analyses, and processing GIS measures in 2010 and 2011. The Life Course Built Environment and Health project was supported by the Western

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Can neighborhood green space mitigate health inequalities? A study of socio-economic status and mental health

Abstract

Section snippets

Background

Data source and participants

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Aust. NZ J. Public Health

Prev. Med.

Soc. Sci. Med.

Public Health

Health Place

Soc. Sci. Med.

Appl. Geogr.

Health Place

Soc. Sci. Med.

Health Place

Am. J. Prev. Med.

Urban For. Urban Green.

J. Environ. Psychol.

Prev. Med.

Landsc. Urban Plan.

Health Place

Public Health

Lancet

Am. J. Prev. Med.

J. Epidemiol. Community Health

Social inequality in the prevalence of depressive disorders

J. Epidemiol. Community Health

Statistical Geography – Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), Digital Boundaries, 2006

Information Paper: An Introduction to Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), 2006