Neighborhood Perceptions and Health: Comparing Migrant Workers and Local Urban Residents in Shanghai

• In Event: 546 - Section on Sociology of Population Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Neighborhoods, Migration, and Health

Abstract

Using a dataset comprised of 477 migrants and 546 native residents of Shanghai in 2008, we examine how the self-perceptions of migrants about physical (neighborhood public facilities and air quality) and social (social cohesion and safety) environments of their neighborhood are associated with three health outcomes: two subjectively measured indicators (self-rated health and social stress) and one more objectively measured indicator (disease conditions) in comparison to the self-perceptions of urban residents in host communities. Results show that there are perceptional differences between the two groups. Although migrant workers rate the physical environments of their neighborhood lower than local residents do, they rate the social environments of neighborhood higher. In addition, differences in the associations between neighborhood perceptions about neighborhoods and health outcomes are observed between these two groups. For migrant workers, perceptions on neighborhood social environment are linked to subjectively measured health outcomes, whereas physical environment perceptions are not associated with all three health outcomes. By contrast, among Shanghai-born native residents, perceptions about social environments are associated with objectively measured health and perceptions about physical environments are associated with both subjectively and objectively measured health outcomes. These findings could have some important policy implications to help improve the migrant workers' perceptions about neighborhood facilitate so that they could be beneficial from these environments in destination communities.

Authors

• Danan Gu, United Nations Population Division

• Ming Wen, University of Utah

• Haiyan Zhu, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University