Does the perceived neighborhood environment promote mental health during pregnancy? Confirmation of a pathway through social cohesion in two Spanish samples

Mikel Subiza-Pérez; Gonzalo García-Baquero; Izaro Babarro; Asier Anabitarte; Xavier Delclòs-Alió; Guillem Vich; Oriol Roig-Costa; Carme Miralles-Guasch; Nerea Lertxundi; Jesús Ibarluzea

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111192

Does the perceived neighborhood environment promote mental health during pregnancy? Confirmation of a pathway through social cohesion in two Spanish samples

Environ Res. 2021 Jun:197:111192. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111192. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and Research Methods, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Avenida Tolosa 70, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/ Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Madrid, 28029, Spain. Electronic address: mikel.subiza@ehu.eus.
² Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/ Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Madrid, 28029, Spain. Electronic address: ggbmoneo@ciberesp.es.
³ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and Research Methods, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Avenida Tolosa 70, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: izaro.babarro@ehu.eus.
⁴ Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena S/n, Leioa, 48940, Spain. Electronic address: asier.anabitarte@ehu.eus.
⁵ Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD), University of California, Berkeley, United States. Electronic address: xavidelclos@berkeley.edu.
⁶ Geography Department, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, 43480, Vila-seca, Tarragona, Spain; ISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health), Barcelona, 08036, Spain; Grup D'Estudis en Mobilitat, Transport I Territori (GEMOTT), Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B, Campus de Bellaterra, 08193, Cerdanyola Del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain. Electronic address: guillem.vich@isglobal.org.
⁷ Grup D'Estudis en Mobilitat, Transport I Territori (GEMOTT), Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B, Campus de Bellaterra, 08193, Cerdanyola Del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain. Electronic address: oriol.roig@uab.cat.
⁸ Grup D'Estudis en Mobilitat, Transport I Territori (GEMOTT), Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici B, Campus de Bellaterra, 08193, Cerdanyola Del Vallès (Barcelona), Spain. Electronic address: Carme.Miralles@uab.cat.
⁹ Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and Research Methods, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Avenida Tolosa 70, 20018, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: nerea.lertxundi@ehu.eus.
¹⁰ Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Group of Environmental Epidemiology and Child Development, Paseo Doctor Begiristain S/n, 20014, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, C/ Monforte de Lemos 3-5, Madrid, 28029, Spain; Ministry of Health of the Basque Government, SubDirectorate for Public Health and Addictions of Gipuzkoa, 20013, San Sebastian, Spain; Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Avenida Tolosa 70, 20018, Donostia - San Sebastian, Spain. Electronic address: mambien3-san@euskadi.eus.

PMID: 33872648
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111192

Abstract

Physical neighborhood attributes such as greenness, walkability and environmental pollution may have an influence on people's behavior and health. It has been claimed that part of such effects may come from the promotion of physical activity and the strengthening of social cohesion. In this study, we recruited samples of pregnant women in two Spanish cities (Donostia-San Sebastián, 440 participants and Barcelona, 360 participants) who filled in a questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for 1 week during the first trimester of pregnancy. The influence of perceived residential greenness, walkability and environmental pollution on mental health (GHQ-12) was tested in two structural equation models that included light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and social cohesion as mediators. Two solutions showing excellent and good fits (Donostia-San Sebastián: X²(3) = 2.56, p = .465, CFI = 1, RMSEA < 0.001; Barcelona: X²(6) = 4.86, p = .566, CFI = 1, RMSEA = 0.048) consistently showed that neighborhood attributes promote mental health through social cohesion in the two cities. Stratified analyses revealed that the social cohesion-mental health effect was only statistically significant for low and medium socioeconomic status groups in the Donostia-San Sebastián sample. Pathways through physical activity were not confirmed.

Keywords: ActiGraph GT3X-BT; Lavaan R package; Mediation analysis; Neighborhood environment; Pregnancy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cities
Cooperative Behavior*
Exercise
Female
Humans
Mental Health*
Pregnancy
Residence Characteristics
Walking