Longitudinal association between neighborhood-level social capital and incidence of major psychiatric disorders in a cohort of 1.4 million people in Sweden.

ABSTRACT: Social capital-the trust and cohesion within communities-has been linked to mental health, yet longitudinal evidence remains scarce. Here we show that neighborhood-level personal trust predicts the incidence of severe mental illness in a large, population-based cohort in Stockholm County, Sweden. Among 1.47 million Swedish-born residents followed over 15 years, higher personal trust at baseline was associated with reduced rates of non-affective psychotic disorder and bipolar disorder without psychosis over the follow-up period, but only among individuals of Swedish or European heritage. In contrast, the same exposure increased incidence rates among those of North African, Middle Eastern or Sub-Saharan African heritage. Political and welfare trust showed no consistent associations. These fi

SUBMITTER: Song-Chase A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12589101 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature