Depressive symptoms (DS) and cities: a socioeconomic perspective for the mexican case

Abstract

The objective of the article is to demonstrate and determine the relationship between socioeconomic and urban factors, and the generation of Depressive Symptoms (DS) in the population that lives in the main 20 cities of Mexico. In the first instance, we do a comparative analysis of the presence of SD in two environments: rural and urban. In second, we created the Complex Index of Socioeconomic and Urban Conditions (ICCSU), conceptualized on the Mind the GAPS framework. The construction of the ICCSU is based on four urban and four socioeconomic indicators for the years 2012 and 2018-19, based on data from the National Statistical and Geography Information System (SNIEG), from the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, A.C. (IMCO), and the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval). Finally, we established a data panel model that takes the ICCSU and the data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT). The findings reveal the existence of a clear relationship between urban and socioeconomic factors, and SD; between cities and people who suffer from moderate to severe DS, unlike rural areas, a condition that intensifies with the socioeconomic conditions of the population, like, their socioeconomic stratum, their gender, and the present urban marginalization. However, we found that, in the short term, improvements in socioeconomic and urban conditions in the study cities have had a slight impact on the reduction of depressive symptoms.