Lowe Gillian A, Lipps Garth, Gibson Roger C, Halliday Sharon, Morris Amrie, Clarke Nelson, Wilson Rosemarie N
Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica.
Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston, Jamaica.
PLoS One. 2014 Apr 23;9(4):e95538. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095538. eCollection 2014.
Past research suggests that perceived neighbourhood conditions may influence adolescents' emotional health. Relatively little research has been conducted examining the association of perceived neighbourhood conditions with depressive symptoms among Caribbean adolescents. This project examines the association of perceived neighbourhood conditions with levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent.
Adolescents attending grade ten of the academic year 2006/2007 in Jamaica, the Bahamas, St. Vincent, and St. Kitts and Nevis were administered the Neighbourhood Characteristics Questionnaire along with the BDI-II. Social cohesion, attachment to the neighbourhood, neighbourhood quality, neighbourhood crime, and neighbourhood disorder scales were created by summing the relevant subscales of the Neighbourhood Characteristics Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of perceived neighbourhood conditions to depressive symptoms.
A wide cross-section of tenth grade students in each nation was sampled (n = 1955; 278 from Jamaica, 217 from the Bahamas, 737 St. Kitts and Nevis, 716 from St. Vincent; 52.1% females, 45.6% males and 2.3% no gender reported; 12 to 19 years, mean = 15.3 yrs, sd = .95 yr). Nearly half (52.1%) of all adolescents reported mild to severe symptoms of depression with 29.1% reporting moderate to severe symptoms of depression. Overall, Jamaican adolescents perceived their neighbourhoods in a more positive manner than those in the Bahamas, St. Vincent and St. Kitts and Nevis. Results of a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses suggested that a different pattern of neighbourhood factors for each island were associated with depressive symptoms. However, neighbourhood factors were more highly associated with depressive symptoms for Jamaican students than for students in the other three islands.
Neighbourhood factors appear to be partially associated with adolescents' self-reports of depressive symptoms. However, other factors may mitigate this relationship.
以往研究表明，对邻里环境的认知可能会影响青少年的情绪健康。针对加勒比地区青少年，研究邻里环境认知与抑郁症状之间关联的研究相对较少。本项目旨在研究牙买加、巴哈马、圣基茨和尼维斯以及圣文森特青少年对邻里环境的认知与抑郁症状水平之间的关联。
对牙买加、巴哈马、圣文森特以及圣基茨和尼维斯2006/2007学年十年级的青少年进行了邻里特征问卷和贝克抑郁量表第二版（BDI-II）的测试。通过对邻里特征问卷的相关子量表进行求和，创建了社会凝聚力、对邻里的依恋、邻里质量、邻里犯罪和邻里混乱量表。采用多元回归分析来研究邻里环境认知与抑郁症状之间的关系。
对每个国家的十年级学生进行了广泛抽样（n = 1955；牙买加278人，巴哈马217人，圣基茨和尼维斯737人，圣文森特716人；女性占52.1%，男性占45.6%，2.3%未报告性别；年龄在12至19岁之间，平均年龄 = 15.3岁，标准差 = 0.95岁）。近一半（52.1%）的青少年报告有轻度至重度抑郁症状，29.1%报告有中度至重度抑郁症状。总体而言，牙买加青少年对邻里环境的认知比巴哈马、圣文森特和圣基茨和尼维斯的青少年更为积极。一系列分层多元回归分析的结果表明，每个岛屿的邻里因素模式不同，与抑郁症状相关。然而，与其他三个岛屿的学生相比，邻里因素与牙买加学生的抑郁症状关联更为紧密。
邻里因素似乎与青少年自我报告的抑郁症状部分相关。然而，其他因素可能会减轻这种关系。
