A genetically informed study of neighborhoods and health: Results from the MIDUS twin sample

Abstract

Objectives: To examine whether neighborhood income and neighborhood safety concerns influence multisystem physiological risk after adjusting for genetic and environmental selection effects that may have biased previous tests of this association. Methods: We used structural equation modeling with a genetically informed sample of 686 male and female twin pairs in the Midlife in the United States Study II (2004). Results: Controlling for additive genetic and shared environmental processes that may have biased neighborhood-health links in previous examinations, higher neighborhood safety concerns were associated with less physiological risk among women but not men. Discussion: Our findings suggest a possible causal role of neighborhood features for a measure of physiological risk that is associated with the development of disease. Efforts to increase neighborhood safety, perhaps through increased street lighting or neighborhood watch programs, may improve community-level health.