title: Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, perceived neighborhood factors, and cortisol responses to induced stress among healthy adults.
abstract: Associations between measures of neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and health have been identified, yet work is needed to uncover explanatory mechanisms. One hypothesized pathway is through stress, yet the few studies that have evaluated associations between characteristics of deprived neighborhoods and biomarkers of stress are mixed. This study evaluated whether objectively measured neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and individual perceived neighborhood characteristics (i.e. social control and fear of crime) impacted cortisol responses to an induced stressor among older healthy adults. Data from Heart Scan, a sub-study of the Whitehall II cohort, were used to generate multilevel piecewise growth-curve models of cortisol trajectories after a laboratory stressor accounting for neighborhood and demographic characteristics. Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation was significantly associated with individual perceptions of social control and fear of crime in the neighborhood while an association with blunted cortisol reactivity was only evidence among women. Social control was significantly associated with greater cortisol reactivity and mediation between neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and cortisol reactivity was suggested among women. These findings support a gender-dependent role of neighborhood in stress process models of health.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Seattle, WA, USA; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Division of Public Health Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: wendybar@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Wendy E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Barrington
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, London, England, UK.
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stafford
authors.affiliation: University College London, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, London, England, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamer
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Seattle, WA, USA; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Division of Public Health Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Shirley A A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Beresford
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koepsell
authors.affiliation: University College London, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, London, England, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steptoe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol; Neighborhood deprivation; Social control; Stress