Mental Health and Community Assets in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Source: JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.34923
Young people who live in areas with more community assets, such as parks, libraries, health services and transportation, are less likely to report feelings of hopelessness, according to a new JAMA Network Open study from the University of Pittsburgh and the Medical College of Pittsburgh (UPMC).
“Instead of looking at shortcomings, we took a strengths-based approach and identified bright spots in the communities and neighborhoods where young people live and play that actually enhance their mental health,” said lead author Nicholas Soko, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
“This research will help us understand how to best honour young people’s strengths and strengthen the important work being done in communities to support young people’s mental health.”
According to the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 40% of U.S. adolescents experience feelings of hopelessness, 1 in 5 have considered suicide, and nearly 1 in 10 have attempted suicide.
“The number of young people experiencing mental health issues is staggering,” said lead author Allison Caliva, MD, MPH, associate professor of pediatrics, public health and clinical and translational sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Children’s Hospital.
“Young people are struggling and the root causes are complex. We need to look beyond individual issues and focus on what we can do as a society to ensure the health and wellbeing of young people in our community.”
To understand how community assets contribute to the mental health of adolescents in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, the researchers used the Western Pennsylvania Database of Community Assets, which was categorized into eight categories: transportation, education, parks and recreation, religious organizations, health services, food resources, personal care services such as salons and barbershops, and social centers such as family support centers, libraries, and community organizations.
The researchers compared asset density in each ZIP code with three mental health indicators reported by Allegheny County high school students in the 2018 Youth Risk Behavior Survey: feelings of hopelessness, non-suicidal self-harm, and suicidal ideation.
While community asset density was not associated with non-suicidal self-harm or suicidal ideation, the researchers found that young people living in areas with a higher density of certain asset types were less likely to report feelings of hopelessness.
“When we think about hopelessness, it’s also important to think about its opposite: hope and future orientation — having plans and goals for the future,” Caliva says. “We know that hope is really important for the overall health and well-being of young people.”
The analysis found that educational assets such as preschools and primary schools, transport assets such as bus stops, park-and-ride and light rail stations, and health assets such as outpatient clinics, hospitals and dental clinics were protective against hopelessness.
The relationship between community asset density and hopelessness persisted after accounting for other factors that may affect mental health by including the Child Opportunity Index in the analysis. This standardized index includes a wide range of neighborhood characteristics, including poverty rates, unemployment rates, and high school graduation rates.
“When I compared the Child Opportunity Index directly with asset density, I found a less consistent correlation than I would expect,” Soko said. “High-poverty areas are not necessarily low-asset density, and vice versa. This tells me that community strength and vitality are not the same as the absence of challenges.”
While asset density was associated with lower rates of despair overall, some zip codes bucked this trend.
“We found that some communities with fewer community assets have better mental health indicators than we would expect,” Soko said. “To me, this tells us that we’re only measuring one small part of the puzzle, and that there are other strengths and assets that are not yet recognized academically that buffer against poor mental health outcomes.”
As part of their research to better understand community strengths that may be overlooked, Culyba, Szoko and their team are partnering with communities and youth to learn what resources and spaces in their neighborhoods are most important to them.
And measuring these strengths is just the first step, Caliva says.
“This research is exciting to me because it really allows us to map, at a super-regional level, areas that are rich in certain resources and areas that may be less resource-rich due to historical issues around lack of investment,” she said.
“We want to create a spotlight where we can work as a larger community on how we can best create and support investment in assets that don’t currently exist, and ensure young people have access to the resources and support they deserve, regardless of where they live.”
Further information: Nicholas Szoko et al., “Community asset density and past-year mental health symptoms among youth,” JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.34923
Courtesy of University of Pittsburgh School of Health Sciences
Citation: Community Resources Linked to Better Teen Mental Health (September 25, 2024) Retrieved September 25, 2024 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-community-resources-linked-teen-mental.html
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