The project focuses on understanding the impact of neighbourhood effects on mental health and quality of life in the northern region of the Netherlands. Our main contribution is methodological, as we particularly focus on expanding the methodologies used within the field so we can draw closer to the underlying mechanisms of the neighbourhood effect, which is of particular importance in order to understand what we are observing and why. We use Lifelines – a longitudinal data source-to observe how the association between neighbourhood and mental health vary over the three life stages: childhood, adulthood and older adulthood. We are also interested in observing how the association changes according to other socio-demographic variables, such as socio-economic status or race/ethnicity. We expect that our results will provide valuable insights into which models to use to understand the mechanisms of the neighbourhood better, and will offer guidance to policymakers on how to organise cities in a way that contributes to people’s well-being and good mental health.
This project is supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO – Open Competition SSH: 406.20.EB.001).
