Racial Residential Segregation, Neighborhood Disorder, and Self-Rated Health: The Case of Houston, Texas

• In Event: 3504 - Urban and Spatial Inequality

Abstract

Previous research has linked racial residential segregation to a number of poor health outcomes. Yet, the mechanisms that could account for this association remain poorly understood and have seldom been empirically tested in the literature. In an analysis of the Houston area, we test one potential mechanism—the presence of social and physical neighborhood disorder. Using individual-level health data from a survey of Houston residents and neighborhood-level socio-demographic data from the U.S. Census, we estimate a series of multi-level models aimed at testing this mediation effect. We find that Black and Latino segregation are linked to a number of sources of perceived neighborhood disorder, including crime, stray animals, dumping, and environmental hazards, though some of this association is accounted for with the inclusion of area-level socio-economic indicators. Moreover, we find that both neighborhood disorder and residential segregation are directly related to poor self-rated health, in that residents of such communities are more likely to evaluate their health as poor. We also find that neighborhood disorder fully mediates the relationship between Black segregation and poor health and partially mediates the relationship between Latino segregation and poor health. The results suggest that, in order to improve the health of these communities, both residential segregation and harsh neighborhood environments associated with segregation need to be addressed.

Authors

• Kathryn Freeman Anderson, University of Houston

• Lindsay Oncken, Texas Association of School Boards