Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Health-Promoting Community Organizations in Urban Neighborhoods

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Racial residential segregation is a significant and persistent aspect of the American urban landscape even decades after de jure segregation was made illegal. While segregation has declined modestly over time for Black Americans, the immense growth of other racial and ethnic minority groups since the 1960s has complicated this issue and revealed new patterns and trends in the urban racial makeup of the United States. Prior research has linked residential segregation to a variety of social problems, including poor health across the life course. Yet the mechanisms that produce such an association are poorly understood. This project will examine one such potential mechanism, the distribution of community organizational resources and how residents of such communities utilize those resources. This study proposes that minority segregated communities may have diminished access to community organizational resources and that this differential access may contribute to differences in health statuses across communities. With these considerations in mind the project addresses the question of how racial/ethnic residential segregation is related to health outcomes for minority communities in the United States. The PI's will examine the question nationally, using Census data sources and the American Community Survey, as well as locally through a specialized survey of the Phoenix metropolitan area, the 2013 Phoenix Caregiver Satisfaction Survey. These data sources are paired with a comprehensive database of local community-serving organizations from another ongoing research project by the PI's. Both data sources are used in an analysis of family access to health care resources, how that access is patterned by what is available in local communities, and how this in turn impacts long term health. In addition to the contributions to the academic literature, the project has practical implications for policy makers and public health practitioners.