The Effects of Urbanization on Mental Health: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Populations

Abstract

As urbanization increases, more people are exposed to mental health risk factors due to the urban physical and social environment. However, research on the relationship between urbanization and mental health is lacking. This cross-sectional study, which was based on the proposed theoretical model, aimed to examine the relationships between physical and social factors (such as urban environment, spatial cohesion, and neighborhood cohesion) and mental health (such as symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression), as well as physical health and the mediating role of loneliness. The ANOVA's findings showed that city dwellers had greater mental health indices than those who resided in rural areas and small towns. Urbanization was one of the most important nodes in the network model, acting as a connection between every other node. The model was validated and showed that the relationships between the physical environment and mental health were successively mediated by neighborhood cohesion and loneliness. While spatial cohesion was linked to both physical environment and physical health parameters, physical health had a clear linkage with sociodemographic traits and a minor correlation with stress. Anxiety was the main risk factor. Improving neighborhood cohesion and restoring deteriorating buildings are two examples of social and architectural features that can improve mental health.