Inequality in Context: Neighborhood Environments and Their Effects on Educational Health Gradients

Michael Esposito , University of Michigan

The association among education and health is known to fluctuate, in strength, across subsections of the U.S population. Emergent research suggests that educational gradients are particularly affected by contextual environments; higher-level features---such as state of residence---have indeed been shown to modify how much education matters for an individual's health. To add resolution to this insight, this study examines how the neighborhood environment, an especially salient level of geographic-organization, impacts educational gradients in the U.S. Using data from the Chicago Community Adult Health Study (n = 3,105) and Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models, I examine how educational disparities in self-rated health, depression, and obesity grow/shrink in the presence of neighborhood-level resources (e.g., access to quality resources) and with exposure to neighborhood-level health challenges (e.g., exposure to physical hazards).

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 Presented in Session 156. Environmental Factors Associated With Health and Mortality