The relationship between early life urbanicity and depression in late adulthood: evidence from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

Abstract

ObjectivesWe aimed to study the association of childhood urbanicity with depressive symptoms in late adulthood.Design, setting and participantsWe used linear and logistic regressions to analyse data drawn from 20 400 respondents from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, a panel dataset incorporating a representative sample of the 50+ population in 13 European countries.Outcomes and analysisChildhood urbanicity was determined using self-reports of the respondents’ circumstances at age 10, and late-adulthood depression using the EURO-D scale. We conditioned on circumstances early in life as well as later in life, most importantly late-adulthood urbanicity. We estimated the associations using linear regression models and limited dependent variable models.ResultsA pooled regression of both men and women suggested that childhood urbanicity is associated non-monotonically with depression in late adulthood and is particularly apparent for those spending their childhoods in suburban settings. We found that individuals who spend the longest time in their childhood in a suburban home exhibit an average increase in probability of 3.4 (CI 1.1 to 5.7) percentage points in reporting four or more depressive symptoms. The association was robust to the inclusion of a host of household characteristics associated with childhood urbanicity and was independent of current urbanicity and current income. When broken down by gender, we found some evidence of associations between depressive outcomes and urban living for men, and stronger evidence of such associations with urban and suburban living for women who exhibit an increase of 5.6 (CI 2.2 to 9.0) percentage points in reporting four or more depressive symptoms.ConclusionsOur analysis reveals a relationship between childhood urbanicity and depression in late adulthood. The evidence presented on the nature of this relationship is not straightforward but is broadly suggestive of a link, differing by gender, between greater urbanicity and higher levels of depressive symptoms. The life-long nature of this association may potentially inform policy agendas aimed at improving urban and suburban living conditions.

Urbanization and mental health: A perspective from Riyadh City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Regarding the effects of urbanicity on mental health, our study found that mood and anxiety disorders were more prevalent among respondents raised in large cities. These results are in line with previous studies that have found increased odds between childhood urbanicity and depression (Andrade et al, 2012; Howdon et al, 2019).…”

“…Regarding the effects of urbanicity on mental health, our study found that mood and anxiety disorders were more prevalent among respondents raised in large cities. These results are in line with previous studies that have found increased odds between childhood urbanicity and depression (Andrade et al, 2012;Howdon et al, 2019). When it comes to seeking treatment in Saudi Arabia, persons living in Riyadh City had higher odds of seeking any treatment than persons living in other areas in KSA, but that could be a result of both a larger population size in the city as well as increased availability of health services in comparison to other areas (Jowell et al, 2017).…”