Have you ever thought that where you live affects mental health? You do not imagine things.
Ours New analysis 8 years of data New Zealand attitude and value study We have found that how often we move and live are intertwined with mental health.
In some ways, this discovery may seem clear. Do people feel the same life in the suburbs with many leaves, as in a more temporary neighborhood with little busy highway and a busy highway?
maybe. The architectural and natural environment forms how safe people have, supported and settled.
We wanted to know how much man’s mental health was formed as where they lived, and where man’s mental health decides where they live.
Pattern over time
Most studies on the environmental impact on mental health provide us snapshots for people’s lives at a single point of view. It is useful, but it does not show how the situation changes over time and how the past can affect the future.
Our research took a slightly different approach. We saw the pattern over time by tracking the same people every year: we saw how the mental health moved, how it moved home, and how the area they lived changed in connection with factors such as approaches, poverty, unemployment and overcrowding on positive and negative environmental characteristics.
Lucas Marek,,, Author provision (no reuse)
We also saw ages, body size and people who exercised, all of which can affect mental health.
In order to understand such complex and interconnected data, we have modern machine learning tools, especially Random forest algorithm. This tool allows you to build many individual models (trees) by looking at how various factors affect mental health.
Then we could see the most frequent factors to evaluate both relative importance and scope of influence.
We also ran Monte Carlo Simulation. Think of this like a high -tech fixed bead and explore what will happen to mental health over time.
This simulation produced several future scenarios under a better neighboring conditions, used any forests to predict each mental health result, and then average the results.
Negative feedback loop
What we found was a potential negative feedback loop. People with depression or anxiety were more likely to move home, and on average, those who moved were more experienced to worsen mental health later.
And there are more things. Those who have continuous mental health problems were more likely to move more often, but also to move to more deprived. In other words, mental health was more likely to end in a lack of resources and potentially higher risk of continuous stress.
Our research could not say why the movement occurred, but mental health problems could be related to unstable housing, financial tensions, or the need for new starts. Our future research will try to select some of this.
On the other hand, those who did not relocate often, especially those in low objects, tended to be better for long -term mental health. Therefore, stability is important. The same is true for neighbors.
Where we live
This discovery challenges the idea that mental health is in us. Where we live, we play an important role in forming our feelings. But our environment does not affect our hearts. Our hearts can lead us to another environment.
Our study shows that mental health and place can potentially immerse in feedback loops. One affects others and the cycle can support well -being or reduce drive.
It has a practical impact on how to support people with mental health problems.
In this study, if people are already having trouble, they were more likely to move and more difficult to live.
This is not just about an individual’s choice. It is about the system, housing market, income inequality, and treatment approach. If you want better mental health at the population level, you should think beyond personal level. We must think about the place.
After all, mental health does not live in the mind. It also has roots where we live.
