Perceived neighborhood crime and social cohesion trajectories and mental health during COVID‐19: Evidence from a 2020–2024 cohort

We examined longitudinal changes in perceived neighborhood crime and social cohesion from 2020 to 2024 and their associations with depression, anxiety, and loneliness. U.S. adults ( N = 895) recruited in spring 2020 completed at least one annual follow‐up surveys through 2024. Group‐based trajectory modeling identified four perceived‐crime trajectories: low (71.7%), increasing (14.9%), decreasing (8.7%), and high (4.8%), and three stable social‐cohesion trajectories: high (18.2%), middle (63.9%), and low (17.9%). Multivariable logistic regression showed that, compared with the low‐crime trajectory, high and increasing crime were associated with higher odds of depression (OR = 2.61 and 1.82) and anxiety (OR = 3.08 and 1.87), whereas decreasing crime was associated with lower odds of loneliness (OR = 0.55). Compared with high cohesion, low cohesion was associated with higher odds of depression (OR = 6.38), anxiety (OR = 4.81), and loneliness (OR = 4.17). Complementary within‐between mixed‐effects models showed that within‐person increases in perceived crime were associated with higher depression ( β = .12), anxiety ( β = .15), and loneliness ( β = .19), whereas within‐person increases in social cohesion were associated with lower symptoms ( β = −0.02 to −0.04). Findings indicate consistent longitudinal associations between neighborhood perceptions and mental health across person‐centered and variable‐centered approaches.