Neighborhoods and Health Ichiro Kawachi and Lisa Berkman, eds'

1
Neighborhoods and Health Ichiro Kawachi and Lisa
Berkman, eds.

• reviewed by Alysia Kwon
• December 1, 2004
• ayk_at_ucla.edu

2
Goals of the Book

• To present a holistic view of an emerging field
  of neighborhood level (multilevel) research
• To introduce a history of this type of research
• To address methodological issues and solutions
• To justify the use of multilevel research on a
  variety of health outcomes

3
What is Neighborhood Level Research?

• Contextual vs. compositional
• How the local social and physical environment
  affect health and health inequalities
• Key aspects (Macintyre et al., 1993)
• Physical features
• Availability of healthy environments at home,
  work and play
• Services
• Sociocultural features
• Reputation

4
Current state of research

• Cross-sectional
• Not theoretically-based
• Focused on urban areas
• Current geographic units often inadequatemay
  need qualitative methods or geocoding
• Potential for overcontrolling for family and
  individual characteristics

5
Theories

• Derived from sociology
• Collective efficacy
• Social cohesion
• Institutional resources and public control

6
Methodology

• Levels of analysis individual, group and
  neighborhood
• Variation between item responses
• Variation between respondents within neighborhood
  clusters
• Variation between neighborhood clusters
• Ecological, atomistic, sociologistic and
  individualistic fallacies
• Hierarchical linear modeling

7
Methodology, cont.

• PHDCN methodology
• Perceived and observed neighborhood disorder
• Physical disorder
• Social disorder
• Poverty level (U.S.) vs. deprivation (Europe)

8
Other Topics Covered

• Racial segregation, vulnerable groups
• Examples
• Infectious diseases (AIDS, STDs)
• Infant health
• Asthma
• Social networks, social isolation
• Gay and lesbian communities
• Weak ties
• Aging population, disability and physical
  functioning
• Policy and what hinders policy change

9
Conclusions

• Comprehensive?
• Innovative?
• Important?
• Interesting?

10
Further reading

• Aneshensel, C.S. and Sucoff, C.A.(1996) The
  neighborhood context of adolescent mental health.
  J Health Soc Behav 37(4) 293-310.
• Berkman, LF and I. Kawachi, eds. (2000) Social
  Epidemiology. New York Oxford University Press.
• Browning, C.R. and Cagney K.A. (2003) Moving
  beyond poverty neighborhood structure, social
  processes, and health. J Health Soc Behav 44(4)
  552-71. (these two also study neighborhood
  context of asthma)
• Bryk, A.S.and Raudenbush, S. W. (1992)
  Hierarchical Linear Models Applications and Data
  Analysis Methods. Newbury Park Sage
  Publications.
• Collins, C. and D. Williams (1999) Segregation
  and mortality The deadly effects of racism.
  Sociological Forum 14(3) 497-523.
• Echeverria S.E., Diez-Roux A.V., Link B.G. (2004)
  Reliability of self-reported neighborhood
  characteristics. J Urban Health. 2004
  Dec81(4)682-701.
• Holtermann, S. (1975) Areas of urban deprivation
  in Great Britain An analysis of 1971 Census
  Data. Social Trends 633-47.
• Lochner KA, Kawachi I, Brennan RT and Buka SL.
  (2003) Social capital and neighborhood mortality
  rates in Chicago. Soc Sci Med. 56(8)1797-805.
• Klebanov, P.K., Brooks-Gunn, J. and Duncan, G.J.
  (1994) Does neighborhood and family poverty
  affect mothers' parenting, mental health, and
  social support? Journal of Marriage and Family.
  56(2) 441-455

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Further Reading, cont.

• Morenoff J.D. (2003) Neighborhood mechanisms and
  the spatial dynamics of birth weight. AJS.
  108(5)976-1017.
• O'Campo, P., Xue, X., Wang, M. C. and Caughy, M.
  (1997) Neighborhood risk factors for low
  birthweight in Baltimore a multilevel analysis.
  Am J Public Health. 87(7)1113-8.
• Pebley, A. and N. Sastry (Feb. 2003)
  Neighborhoods, poverty and children's well-being
  A review. RAND Labor and Population Program
  Working Paper.
• http//www.rand.org/labor/DRU/DRU3001_NICHD.pdf
  viewed March, 2003.
• Robert, S. (1999) Neighborhood socioeconomic
  context and adult health. The mediating role of
  individual health behaviors and psychosocial
  factors. Ann N Y Acad Sci 896465-8.
• Sampson, R.J. (2003 Summer). The neighborhood
  context of well-being. Perspect Biol Med. 46(3
  Suppl)S53-64.
• Sampson, R.J., Morenoff, J.D. and Earls, F.
  (1999) Beyond social capital Neighborhood
  mechanisms and structural sources of collective
  efficacy for children. American Sociological
  Review. 64(5) 633-660.
• Wilson, W.J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged The
  Inner City, The Underclass and Public Policy.
  Chicago University of Chicago Press.
• Yen, I. and G. Kaplan (1999) Neighborhood social
  environment and risk of death Multilevel
  evidence from the Alameda County study. Am J
  Epidemiol 149898-907.

12
Neighborhoods and Health

• Where you are makes a difference to your
• health over and above who you are. (p.65)
• Alysia Kwon
• ayk_at_ucla.edu