Urban neighborhood context and change in depressive symptoms in late life.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines associations between urban neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics and change over time in late-life depressive symptoms.


METHODS
Survey data are from three waves (1993, 1995, and 1998) of the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old, a U.S. national probability sample of noninstitutionalized persons aged 70 years or older in 1993. Neighborhoods are 1990 U.S. Census tracts. Hierarchical linear regression is used to estimate multilevel models.


RESULTS
The average change over time in depressive symptoms varies significantly across urban neighborhoods. Change in depressive symptoms is significantly associated with neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage and ethnic composition in unadjusted models but not in models that control for individual-level characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings indicate that apparent neighborhood-level effects on change in depressive symptoms over time among urban-dwelling older adults reflect, for the most part, differences in characteristics of the neighborhood residents.
Wight
Richard G
RG
Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Box 951772, 650 Young Drive South, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. rwight@ucla.edu
Cummings
Janet R
JR
Karlamangla
Arun S
AS
Aneshensel
Carol S
CS
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population