Do Local Social Hierarchies Matter for Mental Health? A Study of Neighborhood Social Status and Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults.
OBJECTIVE
Despite a well-established association between relative social position and health, stratification at smaller levels of social organization has received scant attention. Neighborhood is a localized context that has increasing relevance for adults as they age, thus one's relative position within this type of mesolevel group may have an effect on mental health, independent of absolute level of social and economic resources. We examine the relationship between an older adult's relative rank within their neighborhoods on two criteria and depressive symptoms.


METHODS
Using data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, neighborhood relative social position was ascertained for two social domains: income and social reputation (number of neighbors one knows well enough to visit). Using multilevel models, we estimated the effect of relative position within the neighborhood on depressive symptoms, net of absolute level for each domain and average neighborhood level.


RESULTS
Higher neighborhood relative rankings on both income and visiting neighbors were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Although both were modest in effect, the gradient in depressive symptoms was three times steeper for the relative rank of visiting neighbors than for income. Men had steeper gradients than women in both domains, but no race differences were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that an older adult's relative position in a local social hierarchy is associated with his/her mental health, net of absolute position.
Department of Sociology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. jessica.kelley-moore@case.edu.
Jessica A
JA
Kelley-Moore
Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Illinois.
Kathleen A
KA
Cagney
Center for Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Kimberly A
KA
Skarupski
Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Susan A
SA
Everson-Rose
Department of Epidemiology, Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor.
Carlos F
CF
Mendes de Leon
D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012923:Social Class; D012931:Social Environment
Depressive symptoms; Neighborhood; Older adults; Social hierarchies