The Ties That Bind: Racial/Ethnic Segregation, Neighborhood Poverty, and Health

D. Phuong Do, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Current metropolitan segregation-health studies implicitly assume that racial/ethnic segregation affects those in poor and non-poor neighborhoods equally. Yet, because segregation creates a spatial divide between the affluent and the poor, an individual may experience salutary effects of segregation if he/she resides in an affluent neighborhood with many amenities and services, while another may incur detrimental effects if he/she resides in a poor neighborhood that lacks those advantages. Whether metropolitan segregation leads to detrimental health exclusively in disadvantaged neighborhoods, whether its effects on minority health crosses neighborhood boundaries, or whether segregation impacts those within the same local context equally has yet to be explored. Using data from the 2006-2013 nationally representative National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) with individual-level data linked to census-tract and metropolitan characteristics, I examine whether the association between metropolitan racial/ethnic segregation and health is moderated by neighborhood poverty for Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics.