title: Residential segregation, health behavior and overweight/obesity among a national sample of African American adults.
abstract: We examined the role of residential segregation in 5+ daily fruit/vegetable consumption, exercise, and overweight/obesity among African Americans by linking data on the 11,142 African American adults in the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to 2000 census data on the segregation of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Multi-level modeling revealed that after controlling for individual-level variables, MSA Segregation and Poverty contributed to fruit/vegetable consumption, MSA Poverty alone contributed to exercise, and MSA Segregation alone contributed to overweight/obesity. These findings highlight the need for research on the built-environments of the segregated neighborhoods in which most African Americans reside, and suggest that neighborhood disparities may contribute to health disparities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatric Medicine, East Carolina University, 600 Moye Blvd, Mail Stop 694, Greenville, NC 27834, USA. corrali@ecu.edu
authors.forename: Irma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Corral
authors.forename: Hope
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Landrine
authors.forename: Yongping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Luhua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jenelle L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mellerson
authors.forename: Dexter L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011287:Prejudice; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult