The Covid-19 lockdown has shone a light on the importance of where we live for our health and wellbeing. Living in the countryside; having a garden; living in a cohesive neighbourhood; being within walking distance of a park: these factors create very different lockdown experiences, even between neighbours living a stone’s throw apart.

Research into neighbourhood factors and mental health is not new. However, lockdown has created a natural experiment in which people’s activities outside the home are largely being confined to their immediate neighbourhoods. Lockdown has thus amplified the potential detrimental – and protective – effects of neighbourhood conditions on our mental health. Investigating this relationship is not simple. It is important to take into consideration potential factors that might confound associations (e.g., prior mental health). It is also important to take into consideration how individual-level factors such as housing type might modify any associations of neighbourhood characteristics with mental health.

The current project will explore the relationship between neighbourhood characteristics during lockdown – including population density, greenspace, deprivation, and social fragmentation – and people’s symptoms of anxiety and depression during and after lockdown. Analyses will control for key confounders of the association. Moderation of associations according to household composition, housing type, garden access, and perceived access to nature will be explored.