Depression and Bipolar info explaining the latest research in everyday English

Does depression and lowered self-esteem affect how safe you feel your neighbourhood is?

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Depression, lowered self-esteem, perceived neighborhood fear and drug use among young adults.

We all know that some neighbourhoods feel 'riskier' than others -- somewhere not to walk alone at night, somewhere not to engage with groups of local youths -- but is our level of self-esteem and depression a confounding factor? Do we take more drugs if we are depressed and/or suffering low self-esteem, and if so do we then rate our neighbourhood as 'riskier'?

These are the questions that Katherine Theall, Claire Sterk and Kirk Elifson sought to answer with a four-year study in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

We know from the academic literature that stress, and exposure to stressful situations, is not good for our health, including reduced immune defences and increased risk of depression. Additionally, social stress (such as being scared to walk in your neighbourhood for fear of violence or victimisation) can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, often (but not always) leading to escapist activities such as drug use, alcoholism, and increased sexual risk-taking behaviour as examples.

Research has shown that depressed individuals (regardless of their environment/neighbourhood) are more likely to initiate drug use, or relapse back to drug use, as well as indulge in greater levels of risk-taking behaviour, sexual and alcohol-associated included.

Theall, Sterk and Elifson sampled 210 inner-city young adults (18-25 years of age) who were recruited from Atlanta between September 2002 and August 2006. Interestingly, according to records from the Atlanta Police Department and the Community Epidemiology Work Group of the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Atlanta showed no major shift in crime or drug trends over the study period. That isn't to say that crime and drug use didn't change, only that the official records didn't capture any significant changes.

They found that the strongest predictors for perceived fear of one's neighbourhood include being unemployed, being a gang member, being physically or sexually abused, suffering low self-esteem and suffering from depressive symptoms.

What they were really looking for they didn't find: while increased fear did result in increased drug use, these behaviours did not appear to be as a result of lowered self-esteem or increased levels of depression.

Conclusion:
The implication of the study seems to be that lowered self-esteem or higher levels of depression by themselves have no significant effect on how likely someone is to take drugs in order to 'cope' with their fear of their neighbourhood. It would appear that more inclusive factors -- such as a person's household, community and personal resources -- as well as sociological-level interactions need to be taken into account when considering how to reduce the 'fear factor' a certain neighbourhood might raise in a neighbourhood resident.

Source: Theall, K.P., Sterk, C. E., & Elifson, K.W. 2009. Perceived neighborhood fear and drug use among young adults. American Journal of Health Behavior; 33(4): 353-365

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Technorati : depression, drug use, drugs, neighborhood, neighbourhood, self-esteem