Open Health 2021; 2: 21-39 Research Article Ayodeji Emmanuel Iyanda*, Yongmei Lu Structural equation modeling of mental health in gentrifying neighborhoods in Austin, Texas https://doi.org/10.1515/openhe-2021-0002 received October 4, 2020; accepted February 24, 2021 Abstract: Having poor mental health can be life-threaten- ing, and problems tied to it are prevalent in communities across the United States (US). The city of Austin is one of the ten cities in the US undergoing rapid urban gentrifi- cation; however, there is insufficient empirical evidence on the impact of this process on residents’ health. Con- sequently, this study explored the concept of weathering and life course perspective using data of 331 residents recruited from two regions endemic with gentrification to assess the health impacts of gentrification. We used a triangulation method including univariate, bivariate correlation, and multiple linear regression implemented through the structural equation model to examine the complex pathways to three health outcomes—measured stress, self-rated mental health, and depression symp- toms. Bivariate Pearson’s correlation indicated a signifi- cant positive association between gentrification score and mental health symptoms and stress. However, the direct association between gentrification and depression disap- peared in the causal/path model. In support of the weath- ering hypothesis, this study found that stress score was directly related to the adulthood depression score. There- fore, this research builds on the accumulating evidence of environmental stress and mental health in the US’s rapidly changing physical and sociocultural environment. Hence, implementing and guaranteeing social equity of resources will improve residents’ health and reduce the cost of health care spending at both the household level and the city government level. Keywords: gentrification, environmental stressor, mental health, depression, weathering hypothesis 1 Introduction The literature has highlighted the impact of a rapidly changing environment on general health, includ- ing mental health. Having poor mental health can be life-threatening, and problems tied to it are prevalent in communities across the United States (US). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 50 percent of Americans are diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime [1]. Based on empirical research, CDC rated mental health illness (MHI) such as depression, the third most common cause of hospitalization in the US among adults aged 18–44 years old, and adults living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier compared to those without MHI [1]. Depression is defined by its symptoms: depressed mood (feeling blue), feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, and psychomotor retardation [2–4]. Some of the risk factors include female sex, divorced or separated living situation, low socioeconomic status, poor social support, recent adverse and unexpected life events (e.g., death, homelessness, or eviction), severe medical illness with functional impairment, and chronic diseases. Moreover, accumulating evidence suggests significant links between neighborhood stressors and mental illness symptoms such as anxiety and depression but with mixed results [4–12]. This present study examines the report of mental health among residents in gentrifying neighbor- hoods identified by existing studies [13,14] to add to the existing literature on the impacts of gentrification on health. Gentrification, broadly defined, is a process that reverses the decline and disinvestment in the inner-city and the return of capital into neighborhoods leading to sociospatial rearrangement of the inner-city landscapes [15–17]. The definition of gentrification adopted in this study aligns with those that have been used widely by scholars, which is the movement of the higher-income population into lower-income neighborhoods, thus increasing property values, tax, and rents leading to the voluntary and involuntary displacement of longtime res- *Corresponding author: Ayodeji Emmanuel Iyanda, Department of Geography, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, United States, e-mail: aei11@txstate.edu Yongmei Lu, Department of Geography, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, United States Open Access. © 2021 Ayodeji Emmanuel Iyanda, Yongmei Lu, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.