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Objectives: We investigated associations of officially recorded crime and perceived neighbourhood safety with physical health, evaluating potential effect modification by gender., Setting: Nationally representative population-based survey in New Zealand., Participants: Individual-level data from 6995 New Zealand General Social Survey (2010-2011) participants with complete data on physical health status, perceived neighbourhood safety, sociodemographic characteristics and smoking. Crime rate for each participant's home census was estimated based on data from the New Zealand Police (2008-2010)., Primary Outcome Measure: The Transformed Physical Composite Score from the SF-12, a physical health summary score based on self-report ranging from 0 to 100., Results: We used cluster robust multivariable regression models to examine the associations among neighbourhood crime rates, perceived neighbourhood safety and the physical health summary score. Crime rates predicted adults' perception that it was unsafe to walk in their neighbourhood at night: for each additional crime per 100 000 residents adults were 1.9% more likely to perceive their neighbourhood as unsafe (95% CI 1.2% to 2.5%). While relatively uncommon, the rate of crime with a weapon strongly predicted perceived safety: for each additional crime per 100 000 residents in this category, adults were 12.9% more likely to report the neighbourhood as unsafe (95% CI 8.8% to 17.0%). Police-recorded violent and night crime rates were associated with worse physical health among women: for each additional crime per 100 000 residents in these category women had a 0.3 point lower physical health score (95% CIs -0.6 to -0.1 for violent crime and -0.5 to -0.1 for crime at night, gender interaction p values 0.08 and 0.01, respectively). Perceiving the neighbourhood as unsafe was independently associated with 1.0 point lower physical health score (95% CI -1.5 to -0.5)., Conclusions: Gender may modify the associations of officially recorded crime rates with physical health. Perceived neighbourhood safety was independently associated with physical health.

Exploration of the influence of neighbourhood social context on supportive relationships and social cohesion is on the rise. Positive social contexts may be less stressful for residents, resulting in mental wellbeing and calmness; whereas negative contexts may increase stress and deleterious mental health. To examine this, we measured the relationship between an Index of Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation and overall mental well-being in New Zealand. Then we examined the influence of fragmentation on two components of mental health: depression and calmness. Increased fragmentation was significantly associated with lower mental health scores for the entire population and for females, with similar but insignificant trends for males. Increased fragmentation was associated with increased depression in both sexes, but not calmness. Depression rather than calmness may contribute to the observed association between fragmentation and overall mental health. Groups vulnerable to stressful social contexts may be prone to depression in fragmented neighbourhoods. Further examination of the specific aspects of living in fragmented neighbourhoods which increase depressive feelings is warranted., (© 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)