Abstract
This study was designed to examine the roles of neighborhood social cohesion and parenting stress in influencing maternal mental health outcomes among primarily low-income, unmarried, urban mothers. Structural equation modeling was conducted using cross-sectional Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study data (N = 3,876), to test the hypotheses that neighborhood social cohesion would be associated with depression and anxiety among mothers with children aged 3 years and that this relationship would be mediated by parenting stress. The mediation model demonstrated good fit, χ(2) (796) = 3169.07, p < .001; comparative fit index = 0.96; root mean square error of approximation = 0.028 [90% confidence interval [0.027, 0.029]. Parenting stress partially mediated the effect of social cohesion on maternal depression (indirect effect: -0.04, p < 0.001) and anxiety (indirect effect: -0.05, p < 0.001); higher reported neighborhood social cohesion was associated with lower parenting stress, which was associated with a decreased likelihood of maternal anxiety and depression. Efforts to bolster neighborhood social cohesion may improve maternal mental health outcomes by reducing parenting stress.