Area social fragmentation, social support for individuals and psychosocial health in young adults: evidence from a national survey in England.

This paper uses national survey data for young adults in England to explore empirically the relationships between social fragmentation in communities (measured for geographical areas), social support experienced by individuals from their immediate social circle, and psychosocial health of young adults. After reviewing previous research about these associations, we adopted an empirical approach to these questions, which was innovative in using data on area social fragmentation from a different source to the survey data on individuals. Also, we have examined the relevance for mental health of interactions between individual social support and area social fragmentation, as well as their independent associations with health.