The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #61706

Richard G. Wight, PhD, Amanda Botticello, MPH, Carol S. Aneshensel, PhD, and Marie Mayen-Cho, MPH. Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Charles E. Young Drive South, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772

This study explores the mediating impact of social support on the relationship between perceived neighborhood safety and depressive symptoms among adolescents while controlling for both individual- and neighborhood-level risk factors in a multilevel analysis. Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative school-based sample of adolescents interviewed between 1994-1995 (N=18,743). A 7-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale measures depressive symptoms (alpha=.83); social support is measured with a 7-item summated scale (alpha=.78), and the adolescent’s perception of their neighborhood is dichotomized as safe or unsafe. Analyses reveal multiple contingencies between perceived safety, social support, ethnicity, and gender in influencing depressive symptoms. Among Hispanic adolescents, high levels of social support buffer the emotionally deleterious impact of residing in an unsafe neighborhood. Among both African American females and Asian males who report low support, depressive symptoms are stable regardless of neighborhood safety, whereas among those who report high support, symptoms are lower among those in safe neighborhoods compared to unsafe neighborhoods. No significant social support contingencies are detected for non-Hispanic White adolescents. Multi-level modeling yields significant between neighborhood differences in depressive symptoms, net of the impact of individual-level variables, and economic deprivation at the neighborhood-level negatively influences adolescent well-being. The findings underscore the importance of assessing characteristics of the social context as well as characteristics of the individual when studying adolescent mental health outcomes. Implications for the early identification and prevention of depressive symptoms among adolescents are discussed.

Learning Objectives:

This research investigates the impact of social support on the association between perceived neighborhood safety and adolescent depressive symptoms while controlling for individual- and contextual-level effects through the use of multi-level modeling. Session participants will be able to:
• Discuss the buffering impact of social support on the association between perceived neighborhood safety and adolescent depressive symptoms.
• Describe the contingent effects of risk and protective factors on depressive symptoms among adolescents according to major social strata characteristics (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, age, family structure, and socioeconomic status [SES]).
• Learn about the application of multi-level modeling to a multi-faceted research question.

Keywords: Depression, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.