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A new study published in the Journal of Youth and Society looked at the influence of the neighborhood environment on stress among Black American adolescents.

“My study is a scoping review,” study author Dr. Melissa L. Villodas told us. “The goal of a scoping review is to map out what research has been done on a topic so that we can identify gaps in what we know through research. My study uses this scoping review method to explore what is known about various aspects of the neighborhood environment and how these aspects contribute to stress among Black children and youth aged 10-18 years old. We were hoping to identify specific characteristics of the neighborhood environment and home in on how these characteristics have contributed to stressors among Black children and youth – with the goal of brainstorming some strategies for resolving this relationship.”

The study was guided by a theory that focuses on the neighborhood as a social context of the stress process by researcher Carol S. Aneshensel. They emphasize how living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas may induce feelings of stress that can lead to mental health problems. Because of this theory, Dr. Villodas and the researchers suspected that characteristics of the neighborhood environment that are impacted by socioeconomic disadvantage (e.g., community violence, perceptions of neighborhood social and physical disorder, and characteristics of the built environment) may contribute to stressors.

“I chose this study because I am very invested in highlighting how the places we live, play a role in our well-being,” Dr. Villodas told us. “As a social worker, I take a person in environment approach. This means that as we seek to improve the lives of people who identify with characteristics of some of the most marginalized in our society, we must play close attention to all aspects of that person’s environment – and this includes the neighborhood environment. I chose this population because Black Americans disproportionately reside in under-resourced neighborhoods. As the mental health statistics of Black youth continue to trend in the wrong direction, it is important to explore the places they live as an opportunity for intervention.”

As this method is a scoping review, there is not so much of ‘test’ as there is a systematic gathering of information that is summarized. That said, the researchers systematically gathered the information using bibliographic databases and using variations of search terms related to neighborhoods, Black Americans, Youth, and Stress. After working to identify the articles that fit within the scope of the study, the researchers reviewed the eligible studies and summarized the results.

“We identified four aspects of the neighborhood environment that have been studied in relation to Black youth stress,” Dr. Villodas told us. “This included community violence, neighborhood perceptions, the built environment, and neighborhood disadvantage and poverty. Alongside this, we identified how aspects of the neighborhood environment impacts both biological stress and psychological stress.”

The study summary highlights studies that found lower cortisol levels among Black youth exposed to community violence which indicates a desensitization of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis which is required for stress adaptation. This is important because studies have found that desensitized HPA has implications for the development of mental illness like psychosis.

“We also found a study that highlighted the impact of neighborhood poverty on allostatic load (the cumulative effects of chronic stress) over time which has implications for both physiological and psychological challenges,” Dr. Villodas told us. “Community violence exposure and average perceptions of racism as Black youth navigated their neighborhood environment were linked to self-reports of psychological stress and studies that examined how Black youth perceive their environment found that those who perceive their neighborhood as dangerous reported experiencing more stress over time.”

Dr. Villodas was not surprised by the results, but was encouraged by one of the findings about greenspace – which was identified as an aspect of the built environment. A study the team extracted by Mennis and colleagues found that greenspace contributed to lower psychological stress among Black youth.

“This finding on greenspace really offers an opportunity to consider how we can support the decrease of stress and improvement in psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents in Black communities by maximizing safe natural spaces where they can spend time,” Dr. Villodas told us. “Overall, by making neighborhoods safer, reducing socioeconomic disadvantage, and increasing natural spaces, we can begin to leverage the places young Black children and youth live as a tool for decreasing stress and improving mental health.”