Ninth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Individual well-being is a complex concept that varies among and between individuals and is impacted by individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, policy and environmental factors. This research explored associations between select environmental characteristics measured at the ZIP code level and individual well-being. 2,292 participants from the San Francisco Bay Area (mean age=44.7 years, mean household size=3.0 persons, 70.9% female, 60.5% white) completed the Stanford WELL for Life Scale, a 76-question online survey that asks about 10 domains of well-being: social connectedness, lifestyle behaviors, stress/resilience, emotional/mental health, purpose/meaning, physical health, sense of self, finances, spirituality/religiosity, and exploration/creativity. Neighborhood (ZIP-level) characteristics were collected from secondary sources: indices for walkability, crime, and pollution; median income; percent unemployment, race/ethnicity, and commute time > one hour; and number of healthcare and recreation facilities. Unadjusted linear mixed models were fit to assess relationships between neighborhood measures and individual well-being. Preliminary results indicate that overall well-being was significantly and positively associated with income (p<0.001) and racial/ethnic makeup (p<0.05), and negatively related with crime (p<0.005) and unemployment (p<0.053). The lifestyle behaviors domain was significantly associated with the most neighborhood characteristics, while the purpose/meaning domain was not significantly associated with any neighborhood measure. Additional, adjusted analyses will help contextualize findings within other known individual demographic characteristics. These early insights suggest that structural socioeconomic neighborhood factors influence individuals’ overall self-rated well-being, though much variation exists among the well-being domains. Further research is needed to determine targets for intervention at the neighborhood level that may improve individual well-being.