Aging in Place in Gentrifying Neighborhoods: Implications for Physical and Mental Health

Background and Purpose:

In the United States, the older adult population and the proportion of neighborhoods experiencing gentrification are both growing. While gentrification signals reinvestment in economically-deprived neighborhoods, both scholarship and media reports note negative consequences for vulnerable populations, including increasing housing costs, involuntary displacement, and loss of social ties  To date there has been limited scholarship on the effects of gentrification on older adults, with most focusing on those who leave (either voluntarily or involuntarily) rather than those who stay. Understanding the consequences of remaining in a gentrifying neighborhood is particularly critical for low-income older adults who may lack the resources to relocate and therefore are stuck in place. The purposes of our study are to: 1) compare self-rated health and mental health of those living in gentrifying neighborhoods to those in low income and higher-income neighborhoods, and 2) assess variations in these relationships by economic vulnerability. The effect is ambiguous because gentrification may induce stress, but may also bring investments that benefit the health of low-income older residents.

Methods: 

Data are from 6,810 community-dwelling respondents in metropolitan areas from the first wave (2011) of the National Health & Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Using conventions from the literature (Freeman, 2005; Freeman, 2009; Hanlon, 2009), we combine NHATS with Census tract data from the 1970-2010 National Neighborhood Change Database to determine if a neighborhood has gentrified, is low income, or moderate/high income. To examine the effects of gentrification on older adults’ health, we separately examined two dependent variables: self-rated health and mental health as reflected in  depression and anxiety symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) (Kroenke, Spitzer, Williams, & Löwe, 2009). We use Medicaid receipt as a proxy for economic vulnerability. To assess the impact of “exposure” to gentrification, we employ a quasi-experimental approach and comparing two methods: matching design and linear regression with endogenous treatment effects using maximum likelihood with survey weights.

Results:

The economically vulnerable respondents in gentrifying neighborhoods had a 1.81 higher average rating on self-rated health compared to economically vulnerable respondents in low-income neighborhoods that is statistically significant with 95% CIs [1.10, 2.51], p < .001. Both economically vulnerable and higher-income older adults in gentrifying neighborhoods had more depression and anxiety symptoms than those living in more affluent areas. Higher-income older adults in gentrifying neighborhoods had poorer mental health than their counterparts in low-income neighborhoods.

Conclusions and Implications: 

Findings call attention to the complexity of gentrification, and the need for more research examining how the intersection of neighborhood and individual characteristics influences older adults’ health. Results reinforce the need for neighborhood-level interventions as well as relocation support to promote health in later life, and caution against an overemphasis on aging in place.