Troy C. Blanchard

Conservative Protestant Congregations and Racial Residential Segregation: Evaluating the Closed Community Thesis in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Counties

Structural explanations of residential segregation usually focus on the role of discrimination in the real estate and mortgage lending industries in generating blackwhite residential segregation in metropolitan areas. However, these explanations overlook the role of social institutions in integrating or isolating groups in a community. To address this issue, I develop the closed community thesis and argue that the theological and value orientation of white Conservative Protestant congregations undermines the creation of bridging group ties. Drawing on county-level data from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing and the 2000 Churches and Church Congregations data, I test the hypothesis that the number of Conservative Protestant congregations per 1,000 non-Hispanic whites is directly associated with levels of residential segregation between non-Hispanic blacks and whites. I find that counties with a large number of Conservative Protestant congregations exhibit higher levels of residential segregation along multiple dimensions. Separate models estimated by metropolitan status and region indicate that the effect of Conservative Protestant congregations is consistent across a variety of localities. I conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of the role of religion in explanations of residential segregation and the analysis of segregation outside of metropolitan areas.

Community Attachment and Negative Affective States in the Context of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster

This study advances research on the mental health impacts of disasters by examining how a mainstay of the sociological literature, community attachment, influences negative affective states such as anxiety and fear stimulated by a technological disaster. Survey data were collected in three coastal Louisiana parishes (counties) geographically proximate to the BP oil spill of 2010 while the oil was still flowing. The data reveal that community attachment is associated with higher levels of negative affect. This finding holds for those tied to the fishing and seafood industry, those tied to the oil industry, and those having no immediate links to either industry. These results highlight that although community attachment is essential for community resilience, it can also be disruptive to individual well-being when technological disasters occur in communities dependent on renewable and natural resources.

The Configuration of Local Economic Power and Civic Participation in the Global Economy

In this paper we test the hypothesis that local economic concentration is associated with decreased levels of civic participation. We define economic concentration as a social context in which a small number of corporate establishments or industries dominate a local economy. We argue that economic concentration leads to a monolithic power structure and generates civic apathy because the needs of the corporation override those of the local population. To test this hypothesis, we employ combined data from the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Survey and the County Business Patterns. Our findings indicate that local economic concentration is negatively associated with traditional electoral participation and protest activities. We conclude by discussing implications for current theoretical work on civic community, embedded within the empirical decline in U.S. civic engagement over the past three decades.

Does time heal all wounds? Community attachment, natural resource employment, and health impacts in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster

On April 20, 2010, the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon (BP-DH) oil rig exploded, resulting in the largest marine oil spill in history. In this paper we utilize one-of-a-kind household survey data-the Louisiana Community Oil Spill Survey-to examine the impacts of the BP-DH disaster on the mental and physical health of spill affected residents in coastal Louisiana, with a special focus on the influence of community attachment and natural resource employment. We find that levels of both negative mental and physical health were significantly more pronounced at baseline compared to later time points. We show that greater community attachment is linked to lower levels of negative health impacts in the wake of the oil spill and that the disaster had a uniquely negative impact on households involved in the fishing industry. Further, we find evidence that the relationship between community attachment and mental health is more pronounced at later points in time, and that the negative health impacts on fishers have worsened over time. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Why People Stay: The Impact of Community Context on Nonmigration in the USA

La plupart des travaux sur les migrations americaines reposent sur des explications de la mobilite au niveau individuel. Notre etude va plus loin en examinant l’effet du contexte local sur les probabilites de ne pas migrer entre 1985 et 1990. En utilisant les donnees individuelles extraites des bulletins complets du recensement de 1990, nous rattachons les adultes recenses en 1990 a leur comte de residence en 1985. Ensuite, en exploitant les caracteristiques macro-structurelles des comtes d’origine (fournies par le recensement de l’economie) et les caracteristiques des individus (fournies par le recensement decennal), nous elaborons un modele lineaire hierarchique a deux niveaux. Au niveau 1, nous construisons une equation logistique qui modelise les probabilites individuelles de ne pas migrer. Au niveau 2, nous modelisons d’abord les effets contextuels additifs de la localite d’origine sur ces probabilites, puis les effets d’interaction (inter-niveaux). Les facteurs locaux se classent en deux categories : 1) la situation economique, qui comprend les habituels facteurs « repulsifs » au niveau agrege; 2) les caracteristiques de la collectivite locale qui tendent a retenir les gens la ou ils vivent. Les resultats precisent le lien qui existe entre le contexte local et les migrations individuelles et montrent les effets des structures economiques et sociales locales sur ces comportements individuels. Nous constatons que, une fois controles les facteurs economiques locaux et les caracteristiques individuelles, les particularites sociologiques des localites sont associees sur un mode additif a la propension a rester ou l’on est. De plus, nous observons que certaines caracteristiques des communautes locales interagissent avec les caracteristiques individuelles et familiales pour conditionner les effets des facteurs individuels sur la probabilite de migrer.

Persistent Clusters of Mortality in the United States

We explored how place shapes mortality by examining 35 consecutive years of US mortality data. Mapping age-adjusted county mortality rates showed both persistent temporal and spatial clustering of high and low mortality rates. Counties with high mortality rates and counties with low mortality rates both experienced younger population out-migration, had economic decline, and were predominantly rural. These mortality patterns have important implications for proper research model specification and for health resource allocation policies.

A brief visual primer for the mapping of mortality trend data

Maps are increasingly used to visualize and analyze data, yet the spatial ramifications of data structure are rarely considered. Data are subject to transformations made throughout the research process and then used to map, visualize and conduct spatial analysis. We used mortality data to answer three research questions: Are there spatial patterns to mortality, are these patterns statistically significant, and are they persistent across time? This paper provides differential spatial patterns by implementing six data transformations: standardization, cut-points, class size, color scheme, spatial significance and temporal mapping. We use numerous maps and graphics to illustrate the iterative nature of mortality mapping, and exploit the visual nature of the International Journal of Health Geographics journal on the World Wide Web to present researchers with a series of maps.

Multiple Meanings of Minority Concentration: Incorporating Contextual Explanations into the Analysis of Individual-Level U.S. Black Mortality Outcomes

Prior research on mortality for U.S. blacks focuses on the detrimental effects of minority concentration and residential segregation in metropolitan areas on health outcomes. To date, few studies have examined this relationship outside of large U.S. central cities. In this paper, we extend current research on the minority concentration and mortality relationship to explain the rural advantage in mortality for nonmetropolitan blacks. Using data from the 1986–1994 linked National Health Interview Survey/National Death Index, we examine the rural-urban gap in mortality for U.S. blacks. Our findings indicate that blacks in nonmetropolitan areas experience a lower risk of mortality than metropolitan central city blacks after indicators of socio-economic and health status are controlled. Our findings also point to the importance of accounting for contextual factors. Net of individual level controls, minority concentration exerts differential effects across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, such that nonmetropolitan black residents experience a lower risk of mortality in high minority concentration areas than blacks in metropolitan central city areas. This finding suggests a reconceptualization of the meaning for minority concentration with respect to studies of health outcomes in nonmetropolitan communities.

Suburban sprawl, regional diffusion, and the fate of small retailers in a large retail environment, 1977-1996

Abstract Research on the decline of public life in the United States has largely overlooked the role of Main Street retailers that provide public spaces for the maintenance of informal social ties. A central factor shaping the viability of small retailers is the development of big box chain stores that offer one-stop shopping and price out smaller competitors. Although prior studies have considered the transition from small to large retailers as a national phenomenon, arguing for the importance of place effects, we document the spatial variation in this process for nonmetropolitan counties in the United States. We hypothesize that the economic downturns in agriculture and manufacturing during the 1980s, combined with suburban sprawl into nonmetropolitan counties, facilitated the decline of small retailing in specific locales. Employing data from the 1977–1996 U.S. County Business Patterns, we test our hypotheses concerning the spatial variability in the decline of small retailing. Our results point to a marked decline in the number of establishments and employment in selected retail industries for nonmetropolitan counties near metropolitan areas in the South, Midwest, and West. These findings highlight the importance of considering local business enterprises as an important dimension of public life and local leadership in community affairs. We conclude our study by outlining the social consequences of the decline of small retail activity and suggest directions for future research.

Correlating pharmaceutical data with a national health survey as a proxy for estimating rural population health

BackgroundChronic disease accounts for nearly three-quarters of US deaths, yet prevalence rates are not consistently reported at the state level and are not available at the sub-state level. This makes it difficult to assess trends in prevalence and impossible to measure sub-state differences. Such county-level differences could inform and direct the delivery of health services to those with the greatest need.MethodsWe used a database of prescription drugs filled in the US as a proxy for nationwide, county-level prevalence of three top causes of death: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. We tested whether prescription data are statistically valid proxy measures for prevalence, using the correlation between prescriptions filled at the state level and comparable Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. We further tested for statistically significant national geographic patterns.ResultsFourteen correlations were tested for years in which the BRFSS questions were asked (1999-2003), and all were statistically significant. The correlations at the state level ranged from a low of 0.41 (stroke, 1999) to a high of 0.73 (heart disease, 2003). We also mapped self-reported chronic illnesses along with prescription rates associated with those illnesses.ConclusionsCounty prescription drug rates were shown to be valid measures of sub-state estimates of diagnosed prevalence and could be used to target health resources to counties in need. This methodology could be particularly helpful to rural areas whose prevalence rates cannot be estimated using national surveys. While there are no spatial statistically significant patterns nationally, there are significant variations within states that suggest unmet health needs.