Research Paper Title

Examine the associations between perceived neighbourhood conditions, physical activity, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

This study examined how neighbourhood conditions changed and how neighbourhood conditions were associated with physical activity and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among Americans.

Methods

The major outcomes were stratified by the neighbourhood’s poverty and regression models were used to assess the associations between neighbourhood conditions and their change during the pandemic and the outcomes of physical activity and mental health.

Results

The results show that low-poverty neighbourhoods had more health-promoting neighbourhood conditions before the outbreak and more positive changes during the outbreak. Health-promoting neighbourhood conditions were associated with higher physical activity and moderate physical activity and lack of negative neighbourhood conditions such as crime/violence and traffic were associated with a lower risk of mental health problems including loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Mental health problems were also significantly associated with the COVID-19 infection and death and household income level.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that it is plausible that the disparities of physical activity and mental health by neighbourhood exacerbate due to the pandemic and people who are living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods bear increasingly disproportionate burden.

Reference

Yang, Y. & Xiang, X. (2021) Examine the associations between perceived neighborhood conditions, physical activity, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health & Place. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102505. Online ahead of print.