Working paper 04/099 - Abstract

Local Neighbourhood and Mental Health: Evidence from the UK (PDF, file 127 KB) (PDF, 127kB)

Carol Propper, Kelvyn Jones, Anne Bolster, Simon Burgess, Ron Johnston and Rebecca Sarker

Using a very local definition of neighbourhood, and characterising that neighbourhood along five relatively orthogonal dimensions based on the socio-economic characteristics of the population of the neighbourhood, this paper examines the association between neighbourhood and levels and changes in mental health. We find that the extent of association between neighbourhood and both levels and changes in mental health is limited. While there are some individuals whose mental health is statistically associated with their neighbourhood composition, the importance of these differences is not large. What appears to be important for levels of mental health are the characteristics of individuals and their households, not place. Changes in mental health are not even associated with the characteristics that predict levels of health.

Forthcoming in Social Science and Medicine