Trust in Neighbors, Socioeconomic Status, and Metabolic Syndrome Risk

Objective: People with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases of aging, but strong relationships with family or friends buffer this risk. This research tests whether trust in neighbors plays a similar role. Methods: Analyses using data (N = 1,762) from the Midlife in the U.S. study tested whether SES (educational attainment, income, and assets) and trust in neighbors interacted to predict two indices of metabolic syndrome, a marker of cardiovascular and diabetes risk. These two metabolic syndrome indices were the number of dimensions on which participants met clinical risk cutoffs and a diagnosis. Results: SES interacted with neighborhood trust to predict the number of dimensions on which risk cutoffs were met (b = 0.08, SE = 0.03, 95% CI [0.02, 0.14], p = 0.014). Lower, but not higher, SES participants met risk cutoffs on fewer dimensions when they had higher trust in their neighbors. The same pattern emerged for the diagnosis outcome, although in this case, the significance of the SES x trust in neighbors interaction depended on the covariates included. Conclusions: Living in neighborhoods where individuals trust each other may protect the health of individuals with lower SES, and investing in programs that build trust among neighbors may reduce health disparities.