Rupa Jose1, E Alison Holman2, Roxane Cohen Silver3. 1. Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine. 2. Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing, University of California, Irvine. 3. Departments of Psychology and Social Behavior and Medicine, University of California, Irvine.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Ebola media coverage directed public attention to potential disease carriers: residents or travelers from West Africa. We investigated the role of neighborhood population factors (i.e., the concentration of West African foreigners, non-West African foreigners, non-Hispanic Blacks) on individual responses to the Ebola outbreak in the United States. The role of these community-level factors in emotional responses to this public health crisis is poorly understood. METHOD: Demographic factors, mental health, and stressful event history, collected as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of residents from 2 metropolitan communities (New York City and Boston, total N = 1,346), were combined with neighborhood data from the U.S. Census. Multilevel models estimated the effects of individual and neighborhood factors on individual psychological distress, functional impairment, and Ebola-related worry. RESULTS: Individuals living in neighborhoods with more West African-born foreigners or non-West African foreigners reported more somatization and anxiety symptoms, functioning difficulties, and/or Ebola-related worry than individuals living in neighborhoods with fewer foreign residents (p < .05). Individuals residing in neighborhoods with more non-Hispanic Blacks also reported more somatization symptoms than their residential counterparts (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Neighborhood demography is important to study during a public health outbreak like Ebola in which media and policy target specific people or regions. Findings suggest research and policies should not only assist at-risk individuals but also at-risk neighborhoods during and after an infectious disease crisis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).
OBJECTIVE:Ebola media coverage directed public attention to potential disease carriers: residents or travelers from West Africa. We investigated the role of neighborhood population factors (i.e., the concentration of West African foreigners, non-West African foreigners, non-Hispanic Blacks) on individual responses to the Ebola outbreak in the United States. The role of these community-level factors in emotional responses to this public health crisis is poorly understood. METHOD: Demographic factors, mental health, and stressful event history, collected as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of residents from 2 metropolitan communities (New York City and Boston, total N = 1,346), were combined with neighborhood data from the U.S. Census. Multilevel models estimated the effects of individual and neighborhood factors on individual psychological distress, functional impairment, and Ebola-related worry. RESULTS: Individuals living in neighborhoods with more West African-born foreigners or non-West African foreigners reported more somatization and anxiety symptoms, functioning difficulties, and/or Ebola-related worry than individuals living in neighborhoods with fewer foreign residents (p < .05). Individuals residing in neighborhoods with more non-Hispanic Blacks also reported more somatization symptoms than their residential counterparts (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Neighborhood demography is important to study during a public health outbreak like Ebola in which media and policy target specific people or regions. Findings suggest research and policies should not only assist at-risk individuals but also at-risk neighborhoods during and after an infectious disease crisis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).