Cassandra Viveros, “The Impact of Neighborhood Factors on Depression Among Youth in the ABCD Study”
Mentor: Krista Lisdahl, Psychology, Letters & Science (College of)
Poster #98
Approximately five million adolescents have experienced at least one depressive episode in the United States. Social determinants of health (SDoH), or factors of the built and natural environment, have been a new target that may lead to depression among youth. However, further research is necessary to disentangle this relationship. The current study examined the association between factors of neighborhood and depression severity. We hypothesized that increased poverty, lower socioeconomic attainment, decreased neighborhood enrichment, and limited child education would be associated with higher depressive symptoms among youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD). This study utilized baseline ABCD data (n = 8,203; ages 9–11) including geocoded data from the Child Opportunity Index to measure SDoH and the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS) to measure depression. A linear mixed effect model examined the association between neighborhood factors (i.e., poverty, socioeconomic attainment, neighborhood enrichment, and child education) and depression severity while controlling for age, sex, parental warmth, family history of severe mental health, parent education, family income, site, and family relationship. Poverty was significantly positively associated with depressive scores (B = 0.02, p < 0.001). Socioeconomic attainment was significantly negatively associated with depressive scores (B = -0.01, p < 0.05). Child education was significantly negatively associated with depressive scores (B = -0.01 p = 0.05). These findings indicate neighborhood poverty is linked to increased severity of depression while higher socioeconomic attainment and child education levels showed decreased severity of depression. These findings are unique as they provide clusters of targets within the neighborhood context that may promote healthy childhood development. For example, these findings underscore the importance of increased availability of healthy food, housing support for single-family households, educational opportunities, and occupation opportunities, which may be specific targets and avenues for public policy to promote child development.