Social Inequalities in the Association between Social Infrastructure and Mental Health: An Observational Cross-Sectional Analysis of Children and Adolescents in Germany

Abstract

The mental health (MH) of especially children and adolescents with low socioeconomic status (SES) benefits from access to greenspaces. This study aimed at investigating social inequalities in the association between several types of social infrastructure (SI) and MH in children and adolescents. The sample comprised 12,624 children and adolescents of the KiGGS Wave 2 study (2014–2017). KiGGS provided information on SI (access to playgrounds, sports fields, swimming pools, parks) for all children and the environmental module (GerES V) within KiGGS on the walking time to SI for a subsample. Social inequality was measured by parental SES and the German Index of Socioeconomic deprivation and MH by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Ordinal logistic regression analyses showed that access to fewer SI places was associated with higher odds of MH problems. Children and adolescents experiencing high (but not medium or low) socioeconomic deprivation at the municipal level were more likely to have MH problems when having less access to SI places. At the individual level, MH problems in high- and low-SES, but not medium-SES children and adolescents were associated with no access to SI places. Children and adolescents from high socioeconomically deprived areas and with low and high SES might benefit from high-availability SI.