Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward

doi:10.1007/7854_2024_464

Review

. 2024:68:277-296.

doi: 10.1007/7854_2024_464.

Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward

Marco Helbich^{1

2

3}, Yi Zeng⁴, Abeed Sarker⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
² Health and Quality of Life in a Green and Sustainable Environment Research Group, Strategic Research and Innovation Program for the Development of MU - Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
³ Environmental Health Division, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
⁴ Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁵ Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 38453766
DOI: 10.1007/7854_2024_464

Review

Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward

Marco Helbich et al. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2024.

. 2024:68:277-296.

doi: 10.1007/7854_2024_464.

Authors

Marco Helbich^{1

2

3}, Yi Zeng⁴, Abeed Sarker⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
² Health and Quality of Life in a Green and Sustainable Environment Research Group, Strategic Research and Innovation Program for the Development of MU - Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
³ Environmental Health Division, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. M.Helbich@uu.nl.
⁴ Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁵ Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.

PMID: 38453766
DOI: 10.1007/7854_2024_464

Erratum in

Correction to: Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward.
Helbich M, Zeng Y, Sarker A. Helbich M, et al. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2024;68:C1. doi: 10.1007/7854_2024_481. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2024. PMID: 38865037 No abstract available.

Abstract

People's mental health is intertwined with the social environment in which they reside. This chapter explores approaches for quantifying the area-level social environment, focusing specifically on socioeconomic deprivation and social fragmentation. We discuss census data and administrative units, egocentric and ecometric approaches, neighborhood audits, social media data, and street view-based assessments. We close the chapter by discussing possible paths forward from associations between social environments and health to establishing causality, including longitudinal research designs and time-series social environmental indices.

Keywords: Area-level measures; Mental health; Social environment; Social fragmentation; Socioeconomic deprivation.

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References

1. Al-Garadi MA, Yang YC, Cai H, Ruan Y, O’Connor K, Graciela GH, Perrone J, Sarker A (2021) Text classification models for the automatic detection of nonmedical prescription medication use from social media. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 21:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-021-01394-0 - DOI
1. Algren MH, Ekholm O, Nielsen L, Ersbøll AK, Bak CK, Andersen PT (2018) Associations between perceived stress, socioeconomic status, and health-risk behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods in Denmark: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 18:1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5170-x - DOI
1. Allik M, Leyland A, Ichihara MYT, Dundas R (2020) Creating small-area deprivation indices: a guide for stages and options. J Epidemiol Community Health 74:20. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213255 - DOI - PubMed
1. Bagheri N, Batterham PJ, Salvador-Carulla L, Chen Y, Page A, Calear AL, Congdon P (2020) Development of the Australian neighborhood social fragmentation index and its association with spatial variation in depression across communities. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 54:1189–1198 - DOI
1. Banweer K, Graham A, Ripberger J, Cesare N, Nsoesie E, Grant C (2018) Multi-stage collaborative filtering for Tweet geolocation. LocalRec 2018. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGSPATIAL international workshop on recommendations for location-based services and social networks. https://doi.org/10.1145/3282825.3282831

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[1] Al-Garadi MA, Yang YC, Cai H, Ruan Y, O’Connor K, Graciela GH, Perrone J, Sarker A (2021) Text classification models for the automatic detection of nonmedical prescription medication use from social media. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 21:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-021-01394-0 - DOI

[2] Al-Garadi MA, Yang YC, Cai H, Ruan Y, O’Connor K, Graciela GH, Perrone J, Sarker A (2021) Text classification models for the automatic detection of nonmedical prescription medication use from social media. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 21:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-021-01394-0 - DOI

[3] Algren MH, Ekholm O, Nielsen L, Ersbøll AK, Bak CK, Andersen PT (2018) Associations between perceived stress, socioeconomic status, and health-risk behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods in Denmark: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 18:1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5170-x - DOI

[4] Algren MH, Ekholm O, Nielsen L, Ersbøll AK, Bak CK, Andersen PT (2018) Associations between perceived stress, socioeconomic status, and health-risk behaviour in deprived neighbourhoods in Denmark: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 18:1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5170-x - DOI

[5] Allik M, Leyland A, Ichihara MYT, Dundas R (2020) Creating small-area deprivation indices: a guide for stages and options. J Epidemiol Community Health 74:20. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213255 - DOI - PubMed

[6] Allik M, Leyland A, Ichihara MYT, Dundas R (2020) Creating small-area deprivation indices: a guide for stages and options. J Epidemiol Community Health 74:20. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213255 - DOI - PubMed

[7] Bagheri N, Batterham PJ, Salvador-Carulla L, Chen Y, Page A, Calear AL, Congdon P (2020) Development of the Australian neighborhood social fragmentation index and its association with spatial variation in depression across communities. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 54:1189–1198 - DOI

[8] Bagheri N, Batterham PJ, Salvador-Carulla L, Chen Y, Page A, Calear AL, Congdon P (2020) Development of the Australian neighborhood social fragmentation index and its association with spatial variation in depression across communities. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 54:1189–1198 - DOI

[9] Banweer K, Graham A, Ripberger J, Cesare N, Nsoesie E, Grant C (2018) Multi-stage collaborative filtering for Tweet geolocation. LocalRec 2018. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGSPATIAL international workshop on recommendations for location-based services and social networks. https://doi.org/10.1145/3282825.3282831

[10] Banweer K, Graham A, Ripberger J, Cesare N, Nsoesie E, Grant C (2018) Multi-stage collaborative filtering for Tweet geolocation. LocalRec 2018. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGSPATIAL international workshop on recommendations for location-based services and social networks. https://doi.org/10.1145/3282825.3282831

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Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward

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Area-level Measures of the Social Environment: Operationalization, Pitfalls, and Ways Forward

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