"Neighborhood Cohesion and Psychosocial Well-Being: Differences by Race" by Maverick E. Morales
 

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-7-2025

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Jennifer Robinette

Abstract

Perceived neighborhood cohesion is related to numerous mental health benefits, yet some research suggests racial/ethnic disparities in access to neighborhood cohesion. Much of the existing research investigates only one outcome, limiting the ability to synthesize across findings. The strength of the current study is that it utilized an outcome-wide approach to investigate racial/ethnic differences in associations between perceived neighborhood cohesion and four psychosocial outcomes. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we tested the hypotheses that (1) higher perceived neighborhood cohesion would relate to higher life satisfaction and lower anxiety, loneliness, and perceived stress, and that (2) non-Hispanic White participants (n = 5,095) would benefit more from neighborhood cohesion compared to non-Hispanic Black (n = 1,431) and Hispanic participants (n = 1,070). Results from this study confirmed both hypotheses: higher perceived neighborhood cohesion was associated with significantly higher well-being on all 4 outcomes adjusting for race/ethnicity, age, gender, and education level. Furthermore, neighborhood cohesion was more strongly associated with life satisfaction, loneliness, and perceived stress among non-Hispanic White participants than minority groups. These findings suggest that interventions should provide minorities greater access to neighborhood cohesion.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2025 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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