Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 265 Crittenden Boulevard, CU 420644, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2012 Jul;47(7):1159-67. doi: 10.1007/s00127-011-0426-0. Epub 2011 Aug 24.
Many African Americans are socioeconomically disadvantaged and live in neighborhoods containing chronic sources of stress. Although environmental stressors can contribute to the development of mental illness, there is a paucity of national studies examining the association of neighborhood crime and drug problems with psychiatric disorders. This study aims to determine if higher levels of perceived neighborhood problems are associated with greater prevalence of 12-month and lifetime psychiatric disorders among African Americans.
To do so, we used cross-sectional data from the National Survey of American Life, which interviewed a nationally representative sample of 3,570 African Americans.
Of these African Americans, nearly 20 and 40% reported that crime and drug use are problems in their neighborhoods, respectively. Respondents reporting high levels of perceived neighborhood crime or drug problems are 1.5-2.9 times more likely to have a 12-month psychiatric disorder and 1.4-2.1 times more likely to have a lifetime psychiatric disorder compared to the other respondents. After accounting for sociodemographics and chronic disease, neighborhood crime remains associated with 12-month mood, 12-month substance use, and lifetime substance use disorders, whereas neighborhood drug problems remain significantly associated with 12-month and lifetime anxiety and substance use disorders.
Among African Americans perceived neighborhood problems are widespread and positively associated with psychiatric disorders. Consideration of neighborhood context is important to more comprehensively understand mental illness and its treatment in this population.
许多非裔美国人在社会经济上处于不利地位，生活在存在慢性压力源的社区中。尽管环境压力源可能导致精神疾病的发展，但很少有全国性研究探讨邻里犯罪和毒品问题与精神障碍之间的关联。本研究旨在确定非裔美国人感知到的邻里问题的严重程度是否与 12 个月和终身精神障碍的更高患病率有关。
为此，我们使用了来自美国生活全国调查的横断面数据，该调查对全国代表性的 3570 名非裔美国人进行了访谈。
这些非裔美国人中，近 20%和 40%的人分别报告犯罪和毒品使用是他们社区的问题。与其他受访者相比，报告感知到的邻里犯罪或毒品问题严重程度较高的受访者，在 12 个月内出现精神障碍的可能性要高出 1.5-2.9 倍，在一生中出现精神障碍的可能性要高出 1.4-2.1 倍。在考虑社会人口统计学和慢性疾病后，邻里犯罪与 12 个月情绪障碍、12 个月物质使用障碍和终身物质使用障碍仍然相关，而邻里毒品问题与 12 个月和终身焦虑障碍和物质使用障碍仍然显著相关。
在非裔美国人中，感知到的邻里问题普遍存在，并与精神障碍呈正相关。考虑邻里环境对于更全面地了解该人群的精神疾病及其治疗非常重要。
