Parental‐perceived neighborhood characteristics and adolescent depressive symptoms: A multilevel moderation analysis

Abstract

AIMS: This study examines the moderating role of parental neighborhood perceptions on the relationship between neighborhood structural disadvantage and adolescent depressive symptoms. METHODS: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) consisting of 12,105 adolescents and their parents were used. RESULTS: Mixed effects multilevel modeling revealed that parental-perceived neighborhood disorder was associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms (β = .27, p ≤ .001). The interaction between neighborhood concentrated poverty and parental-perceived neighborhood disorder was also significant (β = -.14, p ≤ .01). Low and high levels of parental-perceived neighborhood disorder were associated with lower (β = -.41, p < .05) and higher (β = .46, p ≤ .01) levels of adolescent depressive symptoms, respectively, with increasing concentrated poverty. Parental-perceived collective efficacy was not associated with adolescent depressive symptoms nor was it a moderator. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that the neighborhood's social environment may mitigate adolescent depressive symptoms. Implications for structural interventions are discussed.

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