Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being

Mo Alloush and Jeffrey Bloem

Journal of Development Economics, 2022, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: We estimate the relationship between neighborhood violence and psychological well-being using nationally representative panel data from South Africa. We use data on household-level perceptions of neighborhood violence as well as reported crimes and local media reports to measure violence. First, we find the poor live in neighborhoods that they perceive to have higher levels of violence and have objectively more violence. Second, higher levels of both perceived and objective violence are strongly linked to elevated depressive symptoms and an increased likelihood of being at risk of depression. Finally, we show that living in urban neighborhoods with high levels of violence while poor is predictive of future poverty in our sample.

Keywords: Violence; Psychological well-being; Depression; Mental health; Poverty; Neighborhood effects; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I3 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Neighborhood Violence, Poverty, and Psychological Well-Being (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:154:y:2022:i:c:s0304387821001218

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102756

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