Effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent cortisol reactivity and mental health

Abstract

Millions of youth in the United States are living in neighborhoods where they are at risk for exposure to adverse conditions that predict a variety of mental health concerns, but it is unclear how neighborhood disadvantage confers risk for these outcomes. Cortisol reactivity to acute stress is a candidate mechanism, as it is thought to be a link between adverse experiences and psychopathology. The present study examined the associations between neighborhood disadvantage, cortisol reactivity and anxiety symptoms in a sample of adolescents living in an urban environment. Results revealed that living in neighborhoods characterized by more severe crimes and higher rates of poverty was associated with blunted cortisol reactivity, as compared to living in neighborhoods with less severe crime and lower poverty rates. Litter, a metric of neighborhood disorder, was positively associated with cortisol reactivity. Sex emerged as a significant moderator of the association between neighborhood crime and cortisol reactivity and parent-adolescent relationship quality moderated the association between litter and cortisol reactivity. Neighborhood poverty was positively associated with higher self-reported anxiety, whereas crime and disorder were not significantly associated with anxiety. Cortisol reactivity was not associated with anxiety symptoms, which ruled cortisol out as a mediator of the association between neighborhood disadvantage and anxiety in this sample. Findings stand to inform the development of interventions to prevent and ameliorate the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent mental health.