Abstract
Evidence on ethnic enclave-health associations for Asian Americans is limited due to an inconsistent definition of ethnic enclave. The authors aimed to establish a robust criterion for defining Asian enclaves in New York City (NYC) and assessed the association between enclave residence and health outcomes among Asian American adults. Data came from 2009–2012 NYC Community Health Surveys and 2008–2012 American Community Survey. Asian enclave was defined as an area with high dissimilarity and isolation scores as well as high concentration of Asians. Five of 55 NYC community districts were identified as Asian enclaves. After controlling for confounding, enclave residence was associated with positive perception of general health with borderline significance (prevalence ratio = 1.06, 95 % CI 0.98, 1.15), but not with current smoking, hypertension, and diabetes. Ethnic enclave residence in urban areas may not produce a substantial impact on chronic health outcomes for Asian Americans beyond individual-level factors.
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Abbreviations
- CHS:
-
Community Health Survey
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
- NYC:
-
New York City
- PR:
-
Prevalence ratio
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Cynthia Driver, Kenneth Mort, and Gary Belkin for their helpful comments on the analysis. This work received no financial support or external funding.
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See Fig. 3.
Percent of Asian residents aged 5 years or older in census tracts, New York City, 2008–2012. Source: American Community Survey 2008–2012
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Lim, S., Yi, S.S., Lundy De La Cruz, N. et al. Defining Ethnic Enclave and Its Associations with Self-Reported Health Outcomes Among Asian American Adults in New York City. J Immigrant Minority Health 19, 138–146 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0334-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-015-0334-6