PhD defence V. (Vernon) Cail

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

The rapid growth of urban areas has major consequences for public health. As more people live in urban areas and communities become more diverse, understanding how social environments shape health is increasingly important. This thesis investigates how aspects of the social environment, including connections between people and the sense of trust and belonging within neighborhoods, contribute to urban health and urban health inequities. This thesis combines epidemiological methods to examine how social environments and health are linked over time with a complex systems approach to better understand how neighborhood factors influence one another and shape health inequalities between neighborhoods. The findings show that stronger social connections are generally beneficial for health. For example, one study found that people who reported greater trust and connection within their neighborhoods tended to report better health over a 17-year period, while another found that older adults with more frequent contact with their social network reported fewer daily depressive symptoms. However, the relationship between social environments and health is not straightforward, as increases in perceived neighborhood social cohesion did not lead to improvements in self-reported health over time. Using a complex systems approach, this thesis show that where people live, the resources available to them, and their ability to influence decisions can interact to create lasting differences in health between neighborhoods. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that health is shaped by the social environments and communities in which people live. Understanding these influences can help guide efforts to create healthier and more equitable urban environments.