MASTER's THESIS the Influence Of
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MASTER’S THESIS The Influence of Neighbourhoods on Wellbeing and Mental Health Ethnic diversity, neighbourhood deprivation and neighbourhood perceptions in Rotterdam University of Amsterdam Master’s Thesis Sociology ‘Migration and Ethnic Studies’ Evelien Damhuis (11265949) Supervisor: dr. Sonja Fransen / Second reader: dr. Bram Lancee Amsterdam: July 10, 2017 Acknowledgements First of all, I would particularly like to thank my supervisor, Sonja Fransen, for her interesting ideas and challenging feedback during my master’s thesis process. Due to her keen supervision, I was able to develop my thesis in the best way possible. I am very grateful for her support and the learning opportunity provided to me. Moreover, I would like to thank my contacts at the municipality of Rotterdam for helping me with my master’s thesis by providing me the opportunity to use their data of the Health monitor 2012. I would like to thank Özcan in particular for his continuing interest in my project. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Koen Damhuis and Rik Damhuis for critically reading my draft version. Finally, I would like to thank my parents. Without their loving support none of this would have been possible. I am very proud to present to you my master’s thesis. 2 The Influence of Neighbourhoods on Wellbeing and Mental Health Ethnic diversity, neighbourhood deprivation, and neighbourhood perceptions in Rotterdam Abstract. The aim of this study was to gain insights in social contexts influencing wellbeing and mental health, specifically the impact of the residential area. This study added to previous literature by combining three elements, namely the impact of neighbourhood ethnic diversity, the focus on both wellbeing and mental health as outcome measures, and by including both neighbourhood effects and neighbourhood perceptions. Following the contact theory, this study predicted ethnic diversity to positively influence wellbeing and mental health, and moreover that perceived neighbourhood social cohesion and social capital positively mediated this effect. It was also assumed that living in less deprived neighbourhoods and having better neighbourhood perceptions would be beneficial for both wellbeing and mental health. Finally, it was assumed that the impact of neighbourhood characteristics and neighbourhood perceptions on wellbeing and mental health would be stronger for ethnic minorities than for native Dutch residents. Using both individual- and neighbourhood-level data from the municipality of Rotterdam, a multilevel design was created. Findings suggested no impact of neighbourhood ethnic diversity on wellbeing and mental health and negative results were found for the mediation mechanisms. Some evidence was found that suggested that living in less deprived neighbourhoods is beneficial for wellbeing and mental health for both native Dutch and ethnic minority residents. This also holds for neighbourhood perceptions. Finally, evidence was found that both supports and contradicts the assumption that neighbourhood effects and neighbourhood perceptions on wellbeing and mental health is stronger for ethnic minorities than native Dutch. Overall, on the basis of the findings in this study, it could be suggested that it is rather neighbourhood deprivation than neighbourhood ethnic diversity influencing wellbeing and mental health of residents. Finally, this study suggests that individual perceptions of the neighbourhood and individual characteristics better explain wellbeing and mental health of both native Dutch and ethnic minority residents than neighbourhood-level characteristics. KEYWORDS: wellbeing, mental health, ethnic diversity, neighbourhood deprivation, neighbourhood perceptions, perceived social cohesion, social capital 3 Table of contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Theoretical Framework 9 2.1 Wellbeing 9 2.2. Mental health 11 2.3. Neighbourhood effects on wellbeing and mental health 12 2.4. Neighbourhood perceptions on wellbeing and mental health 16 2.5. Differences between native Dutch and ethnic minorities 22 3. Data & Methods 24 3.1. Data 24 3.2. Wellbeing and mental health 24 3.3. Neighbourhood effects 25 3.4. Neighbourhood perceptions 27 3.5. Control variables 29 3.6. Analytical strategy 30 4. Results 34 4.1. Results for wellbeing 34 4.2. Results for mental health 42 4.3. Post-analyses checks 48 5. Discussion & conclusion 49 5.1. Discussion of the findings 49 5.2. Methodological considerations 52 5.3. Conclusion 54 Bibliography Appendices 4 1. Introduction A person’s wellbeing is of central importance to achievements and capabilities in a wide range of life domains. Substantial research has been undertaken examining the links between wellbeing and work, social relations and longevity amongst others (Diener & Ryan, 2009). Individual wellbeing is often understood as a social phenomenon. It is argued that individuals are social beings whose lives are embedded in and shaped by social structures (e.g. Larson, 1996; Keyes & Shapiro, 2004). In recent years, the urban and more specifically the residential environment as possible explanation of one’s wellbeing has received increased attention (e.g. Ettema & Schekkerman, 2016). Still, this residential relevance was acknowledged somewhat earlier. Leyden, Goldberg & Michelbach (2011), for example, described neighbourhoods as ‘the stage’ where interaction between individuals happens and where individuals participate in social activities that can contribute to one’s wellbeing. The existing literature on mental health underscores the argument that individuals are embedded in social structures and that the latter also determines mental health conditions (Stockdale, Wells, Tang, Belin, Zhang & Sherbourne, 2007). For instance, studies found that the residential environment influences depressive disorders (Mair, Diez-Roux, Osypuk, Rapp, Seeman & Watson, 2010; Termorshuizen, Braam & Van Ameijden, 2015). Similar investigations are of great importance, since depressive symptoms can cause multiple unfavourable health outcomes and could have a major impact on daily functioning, comparable to the effects of other major chronic physical diseases (Licht, De Geus, Zitman, Hoogendijk, Van Dyck & Penninx, 2008; Buist-Bouwman, De Graaf, Vollebergh, Alonso, Bruffaerts & Ormel, 2006). Providing insights in (social) factors explaining wellbeing and mental health is therefore relevant. This study is interested in a particular social context influencing wellbeing and mental health, namely that of neighbourhoods. In the literature on neighbourhood effects, various neighbourhood characteristics are argued to be influential on individual wellbeing and mental health. First, the neighbourhood’s ethnic composition is found to be important in explaining wellbeing and mental health. In their article, Veldhuizen, Musterd, Dijkshoorn & Kunst (2015) argue that urban ‘societies’ in Western Europe, including the Netherlands, have undergone some demographic changes. One of these changes include that cities have become more ethnically diverse. In 2016, more than 20% of the Dutch population had a non-Dutch background. In the four largest cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague & Utrecht) this percentage is even higher 5 (Statistics Bureau, 2017). On the neighbourhood level, this has led to various neighbourhoods becoming more ethnically heterogeneous. This has made neighbourhood ethnic composition an interesting focus area in the literature on neighbourhood effects. Scholars studying the association between the ethnic composition of the neighbourhood and individual health found somewhat contradicting outcomes (e.g. Veldhuizen et al., 2015; Schrier et al., 2014; Termorshuizen et al., 2015; Bécares, Stafford, Laurence & Nazroo, 2011). Focusing on suicide risks, Termorshuizen et al. (2015), for example, argued in their article that having a higher share of individuals from the same ethnic group in the neighbourhood (also referred to as own-ethnic density), has beneficial impacts on suicide risk among non-Western minorities. Furthermore, Knies, Nandi & Platt (2016) for example found that a higher concentration of the own-ethnic group in the neighbourhood is associated with higher life satisfaction. On the contrary, Schrier and colleagues (2014) found no association between neighbourhood ethnic density and psychological distress. More recently, Erdem, Burdorf & Van Lenthe (2017) found that the mental health of individuals residing in high ethnic diverse neighbourhoods tends to be worse than those of residents in low ethnic diverse neighbourhoods. When it comes to the interpretation of studies on neighbourhood’s ethnic composition and wellbeing and mental health, it is important to distinguish between the different contexts in which the studies were conducted. Whereas some research is conducted in the United States (e.g. Mair et al., 2010), other research is conducted in countries in Western Europe (e.g. Erdem et al., 2017). However, urban areas in European welfare states, like the Netherlands, are quite different than in the United States (Bolt & Van Kempen, 2012). Bolt & Van Kempen argue that in the US, for example, there are high concentrations of ethnic minorities in one’s residential area. Such ethnic concentrations are quite rare in the Netherlands, where urban areas are more ethnically diverse. It is therefore that this study will focus on neighbourhood ethnic diversity instead of ethnic density. Besides ethnic composition, a second characteristic that is frequently studied in literature on neighbourhood