The intersection of neighborhood racial segregation, poverty, and urbanicity and its impact on food store availability in the United States

Abstract

Background Food store availability may determine the quality of food consumed by residents. Neighborhood racial residential segregation, poverty, and urbanicity independently affect food store availability, but the interactions among them has not been studied. Purpose To examine availability of supermarkets, grocery stores, and convenience stores in US census tracts according to neighborhood racial/ethnic composition, poverty, and urbanicity. Methods Data from 2000 US Census and 2001 InfoUSA food store data were combined and multivariate negative binomial regression models employed. Results As neighborhood poverty increased, supermarket availability decreased and grocery and convenience stores increased, regardless of race/ethnicity. At equal levels of poverty, black census tracts had the fewest supermarkets, white tracts had the most, and integrated tracts were intermediate. Hispanic census tracts had the most grocery stores at all levels of poverty. In rural census tracts, neither racial composition nor level of poverty predicted supermarket availability. Conclusions Neighborhood racial composition and neighborhood poverty are independently associated with food store availability. Poor predominantly black neighborhoods face a double jeopardy with the most limited access to quality food and should be prioritized for interventions. These associations are not seen in rural areas which suggest that interventions should not be universal but developed locally.

Financial Shocks, Liquid Assets, and Material Hardship in Low- and Moderate-Income Households: Differences by Race

“…With fewer affordable options, housing costs may consume a greater proportion of black and Latino households' income, which may heighten risk for hardship irrespective of liquid financial assets. Similarly, food insecurity may be tougher to forestall with liquid assets for black and Latino households who are more likely to live in food deserts (Bower et al 2014) and have fewer purchasing choices.…”

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Relation to All-cause, Cancer, and Cardiovascular Mortality in the Black Women’s Health Study

“…26 The potential mechanisms for associations of low neighborhood SES with higher mortality are both social and biological. Residents of low SES neighborhoods have reduced access to healthpromoting resources, 23 such as adequate preventive care, [14][15][16] healthy foods, [5][6][7] and built environments that promote physical activity, [11][12][13] all of which influence risk of mortality. Residents of low SES neighborhoods may also experience greater psychosocial stress due to exposure to crime, [46][47][48] social disorder, 49,50 racial or economic segregation, 38,51,52 lack of municipal services, 8,53 and limited access to mental health services.…”

“…[1][2][3] Area-level SES is often characterized using data on poverty, household income, employment, and wealth for a geographic area, such as a county or a census block, or through the use of summary scores based on those factors. 4 Areas of lower SES tend to suffer from limited access to healthy foods, [5][6][7] educational and employment opportunities, [8][9][10] recreational facilities, [11][12][13] and health care and other services, [14][15][16] as well as increased exposure to environmental contamination, 8,17 poor living and working conditions, 8,10 and violence. 10 Black Americans, including those in middle and upper classes, are more likely to live in poorer-quality and more economically disadvantaged neighborhoods than White Americans of the same economic class.…”

Making Neighborhoods Good for Your Health

“…5,6 Measures of having green areas and parks, safe walking spaces such as maintained sidewalks, full-service food stores with fresh fruits and vegetables, recreational sites for sports and physical activity, and reasonable personal safety from crime have all been used to evaluate the quality of neighborhoods. These can be obtained from census data or, more recently, from geospatial data sets that incorporate satellite images.…”

“…3,4 Much of the focus of neighborhood research in chronic disease has been on cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and obesity, given that poor access to healthy foods and limited opportunities for physical activity are related to potentially health-relevant neighborhood physical and social environments. 5,6 Measures of having green areas and parks, safe walking spaces such as maintained sidewalks, full-service food stores with fresh fruits and vegetables, recreational sites for sports and physical activity, and reasonable personal safety from crime have all been used to evaluate the quality of neighborhoods. These can be obtained from census data or, more recently, from geospatial data sets that incorporate satellite images.…”