Neighborhood perceptions and allostatic load: Evidence from Midlife in the United States study

Allostatic load, which represents the cumulative wear and tear on physiological systems resulting from long-term exposure to stress, provides a theoretical framework that can be applied to understand the association between neighborhood conditions and health outcomes. Within allostatic load theory perception plays a key role, as the cognitive appraisal process associated with one's perceptions determines whether external stimuli-such as neighborhood conditions-are deemed threatening or benign. With data from the Midlife Development in the United States, this study employed structural equation modeling to assess the association between neighborhood perceptions and cumulative, systems-level allostatic load scores. The findings demonstrate that neighborhood perception, as operationalized as a combination of perceived trust in neighbors, perceived neighborhood safety, and perceived neighborhood conditions, was inversely associated with allostatic load even when controlling for objective neighborhood conditions.