Neighborhood Structural Disadvantage, Collective Efficacy, and Self-Rated Physical Health in an Urban Setting

Our analyses examine the role neighborhood structural characteristics--including concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and immigrant concentration--as well as collective efficacy in promoting physical health among neighborhood residents. Using data from the 1990 census, the 1994 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, and the 1991-2000 Metropolitan Chicago Information Center-Metro Survey, we model the effects of individual and neighborhood level factors on self-rated physical health employing hierarchical ordered logit models. First, we find that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is not significantly related to self-rated physical health when individual level demographic and health background are controlled. Second, individuals residing in neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy report better overall health. Finally, socioeconomic disadvantage and collective efficacy condition the positive effects of individual level education on physical health.