title: Individual factors and perceived community characteristics in relation to mental health and mental well-being.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been argued that though correlated with mental health, mental well-being is a distinct entity. Despite the wealth of literature on mental health, less is known about mental well-being. Mental health is something experienced by individuals, whereas mental well-being can be assessed at the population level. Accordingly it is important to differentiate the individual and population level factors (environmental and social) that could be associated with mental health and well-being, and as people living in deprived areas have a higher prevalence of poor mental health, these relationships should be compared across different levels of neighbourhood deprivation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional representative random sample of 1,209 adults from 62 Super Output Areas (SOAs) in Belfast, Northern Ireland (Feb 2010 - Jan 2011) were recruited in the PARC Study. Interview-administered questionnaires recorded data on socio-demographic characteristics, health-related behaviours, individual social capital, self-rated health, mental health (SF-8) and mental well-being (WEMWBS). Multi-variable linear regression analyses, with inclusion of clustering by SOAs, were used to explore the associations between individual and perceived community characteristics and mental health and mental well-being, and to investigate how these associations differed by the level of neighbourhood deprivation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-eight and 30 % of variability in the measures of mental well-being and mental health, respectively, could be explained by individual factors and the perceived community characteristics. In the total sample and stratified by neighbourhood deprivation, age, marital status and self-rated health were associated with both mental health and well-being, with the 'social connections' and local area satisfaction elements of social capital also emerging as explanatory variables. An increase of +1 in EQ-5D-3 L was associated with +1SD of the population mean in both mental health and well-being. Similarly, a change from 'very dissatisfied' to 'very satisfied' for local area satisfaction would result in +8.75 for mental well-being, but only in the more affluent of areas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-rated health was associated with both mental health and mental well-being. Of the individual social capital explanatory variables, 'social connections' was more important for mental well-being. Although similarities in the explanatory variables of mental health and mental well-being exist, socio-ecological interventions designed to improve them may not have equivalent impacts in rich and poor neighbourhoods.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. h.mcaneney@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McAneney
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. m.tully@qub.ac.uk.|UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. m.tully@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tully
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. ruth.hunter@qub.ac.uk.|UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. ruth.hunter@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ruth F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. anne.kouvonen@helsinki.fi.|Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. anne.kouvonen@helsinki.fi.|University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland. anne.kouvonen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kouvonen
authors.affiliation: UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. philip.veal@hscni.net.|Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland, UK. philip.veal@hscni.net.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veal
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. m.stevenson@qub.ac.uk.|UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. m.stevenson@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. f.kee@qub.ac.uk.|UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI), Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. f.kee@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009660:Northern Ireland; D010465:Perception; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D066270:Social Capital; D064890:Social Determinants of Health; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors