McKenzieet al (Reference McKenzie, Whitley and Weich2002) reported that social capital in the neighbourhood may be beneficial for health and mental health in adults. We have reported associations between neighbourhood social capital and mental health service use in children (Reference Van der Linden, Drukker and GuntherVan der Lindenet al, 2003). We wished to investigate whether such effects on mental health were accompanied by similar effects on physical development, and investigated sensitive, cumulative objective measures of child health, height and weight at different ages, in relation to the neighbourhood environment.

We recorded all height and weight data registered regularly in the Municipal Youth Health Care Centre from birth up to the baseline measurement of our cohort study of 1009 children aged approximately 11 years living in the 36 neighbourhoods of a Dutch city (response rate of both child and one parent of 54%) (Reference Drukker, Kaplan and FeronDrukkeret al, 2003). This study on the effects of neighbourhood variables also included family-level and child-level measures, such as family socioeconomic status. In addition, social capital dimensions of (a) informal social control and (b) social cohesion and trust were measured in a community survey and aggregated to neighbourhood level.

Data were part of a three-level structure with height and weight measurements at different ages nested within children, and children nested within neighbourhoods. Growth curves were estimated using a multi-level random-effects regression model (including age and age²). The outcome measures were height, weight, and body mass index (weight/height²), and all variables except for age were considered fixed factors. When neighbourhood variables and individual level confounders were added to the models, results showed that none of the social capital measures was associated with any of the outcomes.

Therefore, we conclude that neighbourhood measures play a role in mental health, but that effects are more readily expressed in the psychological rather than the physical domain, in children living in The Netherlands.