The Effect of Social Isolation on Depressive Sympt

Authors: Julie Knoll Rajaratnam Patricia O’Campo Margaret O’Brien Caughy Carles Muntaner

Publish Date: 2007/09/28

Volume: 6, Issue: 4, Pages: 464-475

PDF Link

Abstract

Interviews were conducted with 261 mothers from 68 neighborhoods in Baltimore between 1998 and 2000 Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic StudiesDepression scale CESD Neighborhood context was characterized using police and Census data Multilevel regression was performedSocially isolated women reported on average 73 95 CI 48 and 92 more depressive symptoms than women who were not socially isolated however the association of social isolation and depressive symptoms varied by level of crime in the neighborhood Social isolation was associated with an average increase in depressive symptoms of 128 95 CI 115 and 138 for women in lowcrime neighborhoods but with no change for those in highcrime neighborhoods The interaction remained significant after controlling for individual and neighborhoodlevel sociodemographic characteristicsThis project was supported by grants from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau MCJ240731011 and the SmithRichardson Foundation 9701936 The authors thank Deborah Brothers and Bennette DrummondFitzgerald for conducting interviews and Kimberly Lohrfink for providing project management We also thank three anonymous reviewers who provided comments on previous drafts of this article Finally we thank the families who so graciously welcomed us into their homesThe project protocol was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards at both the University of Texas Health Sciences Center Houston and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health We gratefully acknowledge the Ontario Ministry of Health and LongTerm Care in providing support to the lead author The views expressed in this publication are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ontario Ministry of Health and LongTerm Care

Keywords: