Jeffrey D. Morenoff

Social Anatomy of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Violence

We analyzed key individual, family, and neighborhood factors to assess competing hypotheses regarding racial/ethnic gaps in perpetrating violence. From 1995 to 2002, we collected 3 waves of data on 2974 participants aged 8 [corrected] to 25 years living in 180 Chicago neighborhoods, augmented by a separate community survey of 8782 Chicago residents. The odds of perpetrating violence were 85% higher for Blacks compared with Whites, whereas Latino-perpetrated violence was 10% lower. Yet the majority of the Black-White gap (over 60%) and the entire Latino-White gap were explained primarily by the marital status of parents, immigrant generation, and dimensions of neighborhood social context. The results imply that generic interventions to improve neighborhood conditions and support families may reduce racial gaps in violence.

Neighborhood mechanisms and the spatial dynamics of birth weight.

This study addresses two questions about why neighborhood contexts matter for individuals via a multilevel, spatial analysis of birth weight for 101,662 live births within 342 Chicago neighborhoods. First, what are the mechanisms through which neighborhood structural composition is related to health? The results show that mechanisms related to stress and adaptation (violent crime, reciprocal exchange and participation in local voluntary associations) are the most robust neighborhood‐level predictors of birth weight. Second, are contextual influences on health limited to the immediate neighborhood or do they extend to a wider geographic context? The results show that contextual effects on birth weight extend to the social environment beyond the immediate neighborhood, even after adjusting for potentially confounding covariates. These findings suggest that the theoretical understanding and empirical estimation of “neighborhood effects” on health are bolstered by collecting data on more causally proximate social processes and by taking into account spatial interdependencies among neighborhoods.

Interpreting the Paradoxical in the Hispanic Paradox

Abstract: This paper discusses problems that are common to both the epidemiologic risk‐factor approach and the demographic variable‐based approach to studying population health. We argue that there is a shared reluctance to move away from a narrow variable‐based thinking that pervades both disciplines, and a tendency to reify the multivariate linear procedures employed in both disciplines. In particular, we concentrate on the difficulties generated by classical variable‐based approaches that are especially striking when one neglects selection processes and the use of strategies to minimize its effects. We illustrate these difficulties in terms of the so‐called “Hispanic Paradox”, which refers to comparative health advantages that some Hispanic groups appear to have. We find that much of what is conceived by demographers and epidemiologists as a paradox may not be paradoxical at all.

Neighborhood characteristics and hypertension.

Background: The goal of this study was to investigate cross-sectional associations between features of neighborhoods and hypertension and to examine the sensitivity of results to various methods of estimating neighborhood conditions. Methods: We used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis on 2612 individuals 45–85 years of age. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure above 140 mm Hg, diastolic pressure above 90 mm Hg, or use of antihypertensive medications. Neighborhood (census tract) conditions potentially related to hypertension (walking environment, availability of healthy foods, safety, social cohesion) were measured using information from a separate phone survey conducted in the study neighborhoods. For each neighborhood we estimated scale scores by aggregating residents’ responses using simple aggregation (crude means) and empirical Bayes estimation (unconditional, conditional, and spatial). These estimates of neighborhood conditions were linked to each study participant based on the census tract of residence. Two-level binomial regression methods were used to estimate adjusted associations between neighborhood conditions and hypertension. Results: Residents of neighborhoods with better walkability, availability of healthy foods, greater safety, and more social cohesion were less likely to be hypertensive (relative prevalence [95% confidence interval] for 90th vs. 10th percentile of conditional empirical Bayes estimate = 0.75 [0.64–0.88], 0.72 [0.61–0.85], 0.74 [0.63–0.86], and 0.69 [0.57–0.83]), respectively, after adjusting for site, age, sex, income, and education. Associations were attenuated and often disappeared after additional adjustments for race/ethnicity. Conclusion: Neighborhood walkability, food availability, safety, and social cohesion may be mechanisms that link neighborhoods to hypertension.

Mobility Disability and the Urban Built Environment

Research on the effects of the built environment in the pathway from impairment to disability has been largely absent. Using data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (2001-2003), the authors examined the effect of built environment characteristics on mobility disability among adults aged 45 or more years (n = 1,195) according to their level of lower extremity physical impairment. Built environment characteristics were assessed by using systematic social observation to independently rate street and sidewalk quality in the block surrounding each respondents residence in the city of Chicago (Illinois). Using multinomial logistic regression, the authors found that street conditions had no effect on outdoor mobility among adults with only mild or no physical impairment. However, among adults with more severe impairment in neuromuscular and movement-related functions, the difference in the odd ratios for reporting severe mobility disability was over four times greater when at least one street was in fair or poor condition (characterized by cracks, potholes, or broken curbs). When all streets were in good condition, the odds of reporting mobility disability were attenuated in those with lower extremity impairment. If street quality could be improved, even somewhat, for those adults at greatest risk for disability in outdoor mobility, the disablement process could be slowed or even reversed.

Building Community: The Neighborhood Context of Social Organization

This study explores how neighborhood context influences participation in local social organization through a multilevel-spatial analysis of residents in Chicago neighborhoods. We construct a typology of community participation based on two dimensions: instrumental vs. expressive motivations for participation and formal vs. informal modes of participation. Both instrumental and expressive participation are generally higher in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, the association is nonlinear for instrumental organization, such that beyond a certain threshold, additional increases in disadvantage are associated with diminishing rates of participation. Rates of instrumental participation are also higher in neighborhoods where residents perceive more disorder. Rates of expressive participation are higher in more stable neighborhoods. These findings suggest that theories of urban poverty and social need are more applicable to instrumental forms of social organization, whereas the systemic perspective is more applicable to expressive forms. Finally, most forms of participation are related to the characteristics of both the immediate neighborhood and surrounding geographic areas.

Measurement of the Local Food Environment: A Comparison of Existing Data Sources

Studying the relation between the residential environment and health requires valid, reliable, and cost-effective methods to collect data on residential environments. This 2002 study compared the level of agreement between measures of the presence of neighborhood businesses drawn from 2 common sources of data used for research on the built environment and health: listings of businesses from commercial databases and direct observations of city blocks by raters. Kappa statistics were calculated for 6 types of businesses-drugstores, liquor stores, bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and grocers-located on 1,663 city blocks in Chicago, Illinois. Logistic regressions estimated whether disagreement between measurement methods was systematically correlated with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of neighborhoods. Levels of agreement between the 2 sources were relatively high, with significant (P < 0.001) kappa statistics for each business type ranging from 0.32 to 0.70. Most business types were more likely to be reported by direct observations than in the commercial database listings. Disagreement between the 2 sources was not significantly correlated with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of neighborhoods. Results suggest that researchers should have reasonable confidence using whichever method (or combination of methods) is most cost-effective and theoretically appropriate for their research design.

Neighborhood Stressors and Social Support as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms in the Chicago Community Adult Health Study

There is a growing interest in understanding the effects of specific neighborhood conditions on psychological wellbeing. We examined cross-sectional associations of neighborhood stressors (perceived violence and disorder, physical decay and disorder) and social support (residential stability, family structure, social cohesion, reciprocal exchange, social ties) with depressive symptoms in 3105 adults in Chicago. Subjects lived in 343 neighborhood clusters, areas of about two census tracts. Depressive symptoms were assessed with an 11-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Neighborhood variables were measured using rater assessments, surveys, and the US census. We used two-level gender-stratified models to estimate associations of neighborhood conditions with depressive symptoms after adjusting for individual-level covariates. Most social support variables were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in women but not men, while stressors were moderately associated with higher levels in all subjects. Adjusting concurrently for stressors and social support did not change results. This suggests both neighborhood stressors and social support are associated with depressive symptoms.

Racial/ethnic disparities in hypertension prevalence: reconsidering the role of chronic stress.

OBJECTIVES We investigated the association between anticipatory stress, also known as racism-related vigilance, and hypertension prevalence in Black, Hispanic, and White adults. METHODS We used data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study, a population-representative sample of adults (n = 3105) surveyed in 2001 to 2003, to regress hypertension prevalence on the interaction between race/ethnicity and vigilance in logit models. RESULTS Blacks reported the highest vigilance levels. For Blacks, each unit increase in vigilance (range = 0-12) was associated with a 4% increase in the odds of hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.00, 1.09). Hispanics showed a similar but nonsignificant association (OR = 1.05; 95% CI = 0.99, 1.12), and Whites showed no association (OR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.87, 1.03). CONCLUSIONS Vigilance may represent an important and unique source of chronic stress that contributes to the well-documented higher prevalence of hypertension among Blacks than Whites; it is a possible contributor to hypertension among Hispanics but not Whites.

Home Is Hard to Find Neighborhoods, Institutions, and the Residential Trajectories of Returning Prisoners

Poor urban communities experience high rates of incarceration and prisoner reentry. This article examines where former prisoners live after prison, focusing on returns to pre-prison social environments, residential mobility, and the role of intermediate sanctions—punishments for parole violations that are less severe than returning to prison—on where former prisoners live. Drawing on a unique dataset that uses administrative records to follow a cohort of Michigan parolees released in 2003 over time, we examine returns to pre-prison environments, both immediately after prison and in the months and years after release. We then investigate the role of intermediate sanctions in residential mobility among parolees. Our results show low rates of return to former neighborhoods and high rates of residential mobility after prison, a significant portion of which is driven by intermediate sanctions resulting from criminal justice system supervision. These results suggest that, through parole supervision, the criminal justice system generates significant residential mobility.