Psychosocial stress and social support as mediators of relationships between income, length of residence and depressive symptoms among African American women on Detroit's eastside

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2006, Vol.62 (2), p.510-522
• Main Authors: Schulz, Amy J., Israel, Barbara A., Zenk, Shannon N., Parker, Edith A., Lichtenstein, Richard, Shellman-Weir, Sheryl, A.B., Laura Klem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; African Americans; African Americans - psychology; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Depression; Depression - economics; Depression - ethnology; Discrimination; Female; Health; Humans; Income; Length of residence; Medical sciences; Medicine; Mental depression; Mental health; Michigan; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Neighborhood disorder; Neighborhood disorder Symptoms of depression Length of residence USA Discrimination Stress; Neighborhoods; Neighbourhoods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Regression Analysis; Residence Characteristics; Social sciences; Social Support; Stress; Stress, Psychological - ethnology; Stress, Psychological - physiopathology; Symptoms of depression; U.S.A; USA; Vulnerable Populations - ethnology; Vulnerable Populations - psychology; Women; Women's health; Women's Health - economics; Women's Health - ethnology
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.028

Patterns of mental health are clearly associated with life circumstances, including educational and economic opportunities, access to safe and supportive neighborhoods, socially structured exposures to stressors and to supportive relationships. In this article, we examine the social and economic correlates of depressive symptoms among African American women residing within a predominantly African American urban neighborhood in Detroit, USA, with relatively few economic resources. We identify distinct stressors associated with financial strain, neighborhood social disorder (concern about police responsiveness, safety stress), and experiences of discrimination. We test the extent to which each of these stressors mediates relationships between household income, length of residence in the neighborhood, social support and depressive symptoms. Our results suggest that for women in this racially segregated area with a high concentration of poverty, relationships between household income and symptoms of depression are partially mediated by financial stress and social support, but that stressors associated with neighborhood disorder and discrimination influence depressive symptoms independent of household income. Furthermore, we find that length of residence in the neighborhood is negatively associated with financial stress and positively associated with police stress and social support, with no significant net effect on symptoms of depression. We conclude that higher household income may help reduce symptoms of depression by reducing financial stress and strengthening social support even within neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty. However, increased household income does not protect African American women residing in a high poverty community from distress associated with neighborhood disorder or experiences of discrimination.