J Epidemiol Community Health

Background Although recent evidence has shown that area-level income inequality is related to increased risk for depression among adults, few studies have tested this association among adolescents. Methods We analyzed cross-sectional data from a sample of 1,878 adolescents living in 38 neighborhoods participating in the 2008 Boston Youth Survey. Using multilevel linear regression modeling, we: (1) estimated the association between neighborhood income inequality and depressive symptoms.; (2) tested for cross-level interactions between sex and neighborhood income inequality; and (3) examined neighborhood social cohesion as a mediator of the relationship between income inequality and depressive symptoms. Results The association between neighborhood income inequality and depressive symptoms varied significantly by sex, with girls in higher income inequality neighborhood reporting higher depressive symptom scores, but not boys. Among girls, a unit increase in Gini Z-score was associated with more depression symptoms (β=0.38, 95% CI=0.28, 0.47, p=0.01) adjusting for nativity, neighborhood income, social cohesion, crime, and social disorder. There was no evidence that the association between income inequality and depressive symptoms was due to neighborhood-level differences in social cohesion. Conclusion The distribution of incomes within an urban area adversely affects adolescent girls’ mental health; future work is needed to understand why, as well as to examine in greater depth the potential consequences of inequality for males, which may have been difficult to detect here.

27103664

PMC5473150

Journal Article

CDC Public Access