Can Cohesion Reduce Persistence of Mental Health Problems in Minority Ethnic Areas?

Background - Mental health problems refer to non-specific psychological distress that cover symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and somatic complaints. For some individuals, mental health problems are only temporary, while for others, mental health problems can last for several months.Methods - Our aim is to investigate the persistence of mental health problems. First, we model mental health problems as a dynamic process where individual current mental health problems depend on mental problems in previous months. Second, we explore the association of ethnic density on the evolution of individual's mental health over time and its interplay with ethnic diversity, ethnic minority status and neighbourhood cohesion. Results - We find evidence of positive mental health problems persistence. In high-ethnic-density and high-ethnic-diversity areas, persistence is significantly higher. In these areas, co-ethnicity seems to have a limited protective role, while neighbourhood cohesion seems to play a more important role in protecting from isolation and, at the end, decreasing persistence of mental health problems. Conclusions - According to our findings, policy makers should promote cohesion especially in highethnic-density and high-ethnic diversity areas.