DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS (DS) AND CITIES: A SOCIOECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE FOR THE MEXICAN CASE

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the proportion of the population that lives in the 20 top cities of Mexico. Population that suffers from moderate to severe Depressive Symptoms (DS) in relation to urban and socioeconomic factors typical of urban territories and comparing them with people living in rural or non-urban environments that suffers DS. To check this, we generated the Complex Index of Socioeconomic and Urban Conditions (CISUC), based on the Mind the GAPS framework, a model that relates the susceptibility or prevention of mental illness in cities based on urban factors, we also used socioeconomic indicators that exist in Mexican cities. For the construction of the ICCSU database, we used data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey in the years 2006, 2012 and 2018-19 and the data of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, A.C. and National Institute of Statistics and Geography in the same years. The results obtained from CISUC were reinforced with the use of a panel data model. The findings that we obtained reveal that there is a more important correlation between cities and people who suffer from moderate to severe DS than in rural areas, a condition that intensifies with the socioeconomic conditions of the population, for example, their socioeconomic stratum, their gender, and present urban marginalization. This allows to generate future discussions about other types of diseases such as anxiety, depression, stress, loneliness, and schizophrenia for large population groups. The panel model yields a lower goodness of adjustment, due to the lack of more time points, however, it points out that improvements in socioeconomic and urban conditions slightly reduce depressive symptoms.