Living in ‘Birdsville’: Exploring the impact of neighbourhood stigma on health

The Stigma Complex

“…More interestingly, the social arenas in which stigma was considered swelled to include financial issues, e.g., bankruptcy (Metzl & Hansen 2014, Sullivan et al 2006, Thorne & Anderson 2006), poverty (Reutter et al 2009), coupon using (Argo & Main 2008); family and relationship issues, e.g., singlehood (Byrne & Carr 2005), voluntary childlessness (Park 2002), infertility (Donkor & Sandall 2007), abortion (Kumar et al 2009), family leave (Rudman & Mescher 2013), sexual orientation (Herek 2004); the uptake of social benefits, e.g., Medicaid (Palmer et al 2004), public housing (Stuber & Kronebusch 2004); “place,” e.g., neighborhood (Keene & Padilla 2010, Kelaher et al 2010, Sampson & Raudenbush 2004); and crime, e.g., felony history (Behrens 2004), incarceration (Schnittker & John 2007), sexual assault (Gibson & Leitenberg 2001). A pastiche of other stigma topics addressed during this period targeted the college athlete (Simons et al 2007), blacklisted artists during Hollywood’s Red Scare (Pontikes et al 2010), former child soldiers (Betancourt et al 2010), nonnative accents (Gluszek & Dovidio 2010), gambling (Horch & Hodgins 2008), stripping (Trautner & Collett 2010), suicide survivors (Cvinar 2005), hopelessness (Kidd 2007), and racial economic discrimination (Loury 2003).…”

“…However, in the period following the turn of the century, that distinction has been blurred in part by sociology’s greater recognition of other similar disciplinary lines of research, particularly psychological social psychology (Link & Phelan 2001, Major & O’Brien 2005). Signaling a move from the focus on establishing the contemporary levels of stigma, both in the United States and internationally, research over the past 14 years has begun to look more closely at the complexity of stigma; at comparisons across time, place, and substantive cases; and at novel uses (e.g., stigma of place such as neighborhoods; Keene & Padilla 2010, Kelaher et al 2010, Sampson & Raudenbush 2004). Although removing historical lines of separation in research agendas increases the potential for theoretical elaboration and innovation, it also calls for greater clarification of concepts and measurement and a reassessment of the impact of stigma on inequality.…”

Perceived spatial stigma, body mass index and blood pressure: a global positioning system study among low-income housing residents in New York City

“…While the connection between spatial stigma and health is fairly understudied, our overall results complement past theoretical and qualitative literature on spatial stigma and health disparities. This past research has suggested that spatial stigma acts as a psychosocial stressor and can contribute to a range of physical and mental health outcomes (Sampson and Raudenbush, 2004;Padilla, 2010, 2014;Kelaher et al, 2010;Tabuchi et al, 2012). Negative place-based identity from neighborhoods can be transferred to the residents of these neighborhoods who incorporate this identity, which negatively affects their behavior.…”

“…We assessed spatial stigma using a four-item survey informed by prior work on spatial sigma and health disparities (Sampson and Raudenbush, 2004;Thompson et al, 2007;Padilla, 2010, 2014;Kelaher et al, 2010;Tabuchi et al, 2012 …”

“…Despite evidence demonstrating the associations between neighborhood factors and cardiovascular health outcomes, the role of spatial stigma in obesity and hypertension disparities remains underexplored (Chaix, 2009), including among low-income populations. Previous research has highlighted the salience of spatial stigma on the lives of low-income residents, but has been theoretical in nature and/or has predominantly utilised qualitative methods with limited generalisability and ability to draw associations between spatial stigma and measured cardiovascular health outcomes (Sampson and Raudenbush, 2004;Thompson et al, 2007;Padilla, 2010, 2014;Kelaher et al, 2010;Tabuchi et al, 2012).…”