Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov 22;22(1):891.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-03459-9.

Neighbourhood socio-economic status and positive affectivity among older residents in Germany: a cross-sectional analysis with data from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study

Christina Hartig  1   2 , Gabriele Bolte  3   4 , Karl-Heinz Jöckel  5 , Susanne Moebus  6 , Natalie Riedel  3   4
Affiliations

Neighbourhood socio-economic status and positive affectivity among older residents in Germany: a cross-sectional analysis with data from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study

Christina Hartig et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Physical and social neighbourhood characteristics can vary according to the neighbourhood socio-economic status (SES) and influence residents' perceptions, behaviours and health outcomes both positively and negatively. Neighbourhood SES has been shown to be predictive of mental health, which is relevant for healthy ageing and prevention of dementia or depression. Positive affectivity (PA) is an established indicator of mental health and might indicate a positive emotional response to neighbourhood characteristics. In this study, we focussed on the association of neighbourhood SES with PA among older residents in Germany and considered social integration and environmental perceptions in this association.

Methods: We used questionnaire-based data of the ongoing population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study for our cross-sectional analysis, complemented by secondary data on social welfare rates in the neighbourhood of residents' address. PA was assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in 2016. Linear regression models were performed to estimate the associations and adjusted for socio-demographic variables.

Results: Higher social welfare rates were associated with lower PA scores. The strongest negative association from the crude model (b = -1.916, 95%-CI [-2.997, -0.835]) was reduced after controlling for socio-demographic variables (b = -1.429, 95%-CI [-2.511, -0.346]). Social integration factors (b = -1.199, 95%-CI [-2.276, -0.121]) and perceived environmental factors (b = -0.875, 95%-CI [-1.971, 0.221]) additionally diminished the association of social welfare rates with PA in the full model (b = -0.945, 95%-CI [-2.037, 0.147]).

Conclusion: Our results suggest that neighbourhoods have an influence on the occurrence and the extent of PA. Public health interventions that address socio-economic disadvantage in the neighbourhood environment could be an effective and far-reaching way to reduce the risk of depression and depressive symptoms due to low PA in older residents.

Keywords: Neighbourhood; Older residents; Positive affectivity; Social welfare rate; Socio-economic status (SES).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Figure 1 illustrates our research objective focussing on the association of neighbourhood SES with PA. Conceptually, social integration and environmental perception variables act as mediators in this association. The associations a1 – a6 are approximated by a correlation analysis, the associations b1 – b6 are assessed by a regression analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Figure 2 shows the origin of variables used to build the data set four our cross-sectional analysis. Information on gender, age and education were taken from the baseline examination and considered as rather stable in this study sample. All other variables stemmed from the third wave and the postal annual follow-up, reflecting the most recent information. Therefore, no variables were retrieved from the second wave
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barnett A, Zhang CJP, Johnston JM, Cerin E. Relationships between the neighborhood environment and depression in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int Psychogeriatr. 2018;30(8):1153–76. doi: 10.1017/S104161021700271X. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cockerham WC, Hamby BW, Oates GR. The Social Determinants of Chronic Disease. Am J Prev Med 2017 [cited 2020 Apr 27]; 52(1S1):S5-S12. Available from: URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5328595/pdf/nihms847488.pdf. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Diez Roux AV, Mair C. Neighborhoods and health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2010; 1186(1):125–45. Available from: URL: https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05333.x. - PubMed
    1. Toma A, Hamer M, Shankar A. Associations between neighborhood perceptions and mental well-being among older adults. Health Place. 2015;34:46–53. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.03.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schüle SA, Gabriel KMA, Bolte G. Relationship between neighbourhood socioeconomic position and neighbourhood public green space availability: An environmental inequality analysis in a large German city applying generalized linear models. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2017;220(4):711–8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.02.006. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources