Morenoff Jeffrey D
University of Michigan.
AJS. 2003 Mar;108(5):976-1017. doi: 10.1086/374405.
This study addresses two questions about why neighborhood contexts matter for individuals via a multilevel, spatial analysis of birthweight for 101,662 live births within 342 Chicago neighborhoods. First, what are the mechanisms through which neighborhood structural composition is related to health? The results show that mechanisms related to stress and adaptation (violent crime, reciprocal exchange and participation in local voluntary associations) are the most robust neighborhood-level predictors of birth weight. Second, are contextual influences on health limited to the immediate neighborhood or do they extend to a wider geographic context? The results show that contextual effects on birth weight extend to the social environment beyond the immediate neighborhood, even after adjusting for potentially confounding covariates. These findings suggest that the theoretical understanding and empirical estimation of 'neighborhood effects' on health are bolstered by collecting data on more causally proximate social processes and by taking into account spatial interdependencies among neighborhoods.
本研究通过对芝加哥342个社区内101,662例活产儿出生体重进行多层次空间分析，探讨了两个关于邻里环境为何对个体至关重要的问题。第一，邻里结构构成与健康相关的机制是什么？结果表明，与压力和适应相关的机制（暴力犯罪、互惠交换和参与当地志愿协会）是出生体重最有力的邻里层面预测因素。第二，对健康的背景影响是否仅限于紧邻的邻里，还是会扩展到更广泛的地理背景？结果表明，即使在调整了潜在的混杂协变量之后，对出生体重的背景影响仍会扩展到紧邻邻里之外的社会环境。这些发现表明，通过收集更多因果关系更直接的社会过程数据，并考虑邻里之间的空间相互依存关系，可以加强对健康“邻里效应”的理论理解和实证估计。
