Racial Differences in Networks: Do Neighborhood Conditions Matter?

As opioid addiction has risen in recent years, racial disparities in drug arrests may be changing in their size and sources. Neighborhood conditions, like economic disadvantage and racial composition, are powerful determinants of racial differences in arrests. Overdoses and police responses to these incidents may, however, alter the neighborhood context of drug arrests, especially those tied to heroin, synthetic narcotics, and related opium derivatives offenses. This study revisits the environmental correlates of arrest disparities by conducting a neighborhood-level analysis of Black–White differences in drug possession and selling arrests by substance type across the State of Delaware. Spatial model estimates suggest economic disadvantage and racial diversity in neighborhoods substantially increase Black arrest rates. Conversely, White arrest rates grow with more calls for service for overdose incidents, racial homogeneity, and to a lesser extent, economic disadvantage within a community. Disparities in arrest also vary by substance type, as heroin arrests for Whites are most correlated with higher overdose service calls relative to White arrests for marijuana, cocaine, and other substances or Black arrests for any substance. Results underscore the need to reexamine neighborhood conditions and arrest disparities due to emerging shifts in drug use and drug law enforcement.

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Neighborhood Income Composition by Household Race and Income, 1990–2009

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716215576104 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 660 (1) ◽

pp. 78-97 ◽

Cited By ~ 91

Author(s):

Sean F. Reardon ◽

Lindsay Fox ◽

Joseph Townsend

Keyword(s):

Racial Differences ◽

Residential Segregation ◽

The United States ◽

Neighborhood Context ◽

Neighborhood Conditions ◽

Income Distributions ◽

Socioeconomic Segregation ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

A New Technique ◽

Using Data

Residential segregation, by definition, leads to racial and socioeconomic disparities in neighborhood conditions. These disparities may in turn produce inequality in social and economic opportunities and outcomes. Because racial and socioeconomic segregation are not independent of each other, however, any analysis of their causes, patterns, and effects must rest on an understanding of the joint distribution of race/ethnicity and income among neighborhoods. In this article, we use a new technique to describe the average racial composition and income distributions in the neighborhoods of households with different income levels and race/ethnicity. Using data from the decennial censuses and the American Community Survey, we investigate how patterns of neighborhood context in the United States over the past two decades vary by household race/ethnicity, income, and metropolitan area. We find large and persistent racial differences in neighborhood context, even among households with the same annual income.

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Addressing Racial Health Disparities: Looking Back to Point the Way Forward

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716218799061 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 680 (1) ◽

pp. 132-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rucker C. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Health Disparities ◽

Racial Disparities ◽

Racial Differences ◽

Early Life ◽

Family Background ◽

Panel Study ◽

Adult Mortality ◽

Health Condition ◽

Racial Health Disparities ◽

Neighborhood Conditions

This article investigates the influence of family background and neighborhood conditions during childhood on health later in life, with a focus on hypertension. To document the proportion of current adult racial health disparities rooted in early-life factors, I use nationally representative longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) spanning four decades. The results indicate that racial differences in early life neighborhood conditions and family background characteristics play a substantial role in explaining racial disparities in hypertension through at least age 50. Contemporaneous socioeconomic factors account for relatively little of the racial disparities in this health condition in adulthood. Second, I match the PSID data to county-level data on Medicaid expenditures during these cohorts’ childhoods, and provide new causal evidence on the long-run returns to childhood Medicaid spending: Medicaid-induced increases in access to public health insurance led to significant reductions in the likelihood of low birth weight, increased educational attainment and adult income, and reduced adult mortality and the annual incidence of health problems.

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