• Human Impact Partners
  • Human Impact Partners
  • Human Impact Partners
  • Human Impact Partners
  • Human Impact Partners

Human Impact Partners Evidence Base

Evidence Base Home » Neighborhoods » Residents in a disadvantaged neighborhood are more likely to engage in health risk behaviors than those living in neighborhoods of higher socioeconomic status SES

Articles in Residents in a disadvantaged neighborhood are more likely to engage in health risk behaviors than those living in neighborhoods of higher socioeconomic status (SES).

  • Neighborhood SES was positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake. Neighborhood SES explained some of the black-white disparity in fruit and vegetable intake and was differentially associated with fruit and vegetable intake among whites, blacks, and Mexican Americans.

    Dubowitz T, Heron M, Bird CE, Lurie N, Finch BK, Basurto-Davila R, Hale L, Escarce JJ. 2008. Neighborhood socioeconomic status and fruit and vegetable intake among whites, blacks, and Mexican Americans in the United States. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 87(6):1883-1891.

  • An analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data linked with U.S. census tracts found an association between high levels of neighborhood deprivation and increased odds of health risk behaviors such as smoking, high dietary fat intake, and self-reported excessive alcohol consumption and physical inactivity, independent of sociodemographic factors, BMI, and comorbidities.

    Stimpson JP, Ju H, Raji MA, Eschbach K. 2007. Neighborhood deprivation and health risk behaviors in NHANES III. American Journal of Health Behavior 31 (2):215-222.

  • A study found direct associations between neighborhood disorder and phychologic stress, neighborhood disorder and sexual risk behaviors, and neighborhood disorder and drug use.

    Latkin CA, Curry AD, Hua W, Davey MA. 2007. Direct and indirect associations of neighborhood disorder with drug use and high-risk sexual partners. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 32(6): S234-S241.

  • Neighborhood disorder is positively associated with heavy drinking and this association is largely mediated by anxiety and depression, as some residents consume alcohol to cope with feelings of anxiety and depression due to living in a disadvantaged neighborhood characterized by problems with drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, unemployment, idle youth, abandoned houses, and unresponsive police.

    Hill TD, Angel RJ. 2005. Neighborhood disorder, psychological distress, and heavy drinking. Social Science & Medicine 61(5):965-75.

  • A study using data collected in the Detroit area in conjunction with tract-level census data found that neighborhood-level SES was moderately associated with drug related behaviors, indirectly through increased social stressors and higher levels of psychological distress among residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods.

    Boardman JD, Finch BK, Ellison CG, Williams DR, Jackson JS. 2001. Neighborhood disadvantage, stress, and drug use among adults. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 42(2):151-165.

  • Neighborhood-level SES was associated with non-adherence to mammography screening guidelines both for black and white women, independent of individual-level SES and other known predictors of mammography screening use.

    Dailey AB, Kasl SV, Holford TR, Calvocoressi L, Jones BA. 2007. Neighborhood-level socioeconomic predictors of nonadherence to mammography screening guidelines. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 16:2293-2303.

  • Among black women, residence in high-poverty neighborhoods is associated with an increased risk of non-recent cervical carcinoma screening, independent of individual level risk factors.

    Datta GD, Colditz GA, Kawachi I, Subramanian SV, Palmer JR, Rosenberg L. 2006. Individual-, neighborhood-, and state-level socioeconomic predictors of cervical carcinoma screening among US black women - A multilevel analysis. Cancer 106 (3):664-669.