Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 2000 Jun;90(6):863–866. doi: 10.2105/ajph.90.6.863

Urban issues in health promotion strategies.

L C Leviton 1, E Snell 1, M McGinnis 1
PMCID: PMC1446271  PMID: 10846502

Abstract

The powerful influence of behavioral choices on health status is well established. The implications and challenges for urban populations are formidable. Understanding urban environments will better prepare health promotion professionals to deal effectively with the forces affecting health-related behaviors. In thinking about urban health promotion in the United States, researchers often distinguish between 2 frameworks; one contending with urbanization, which affects most of us, and another contending with inner-city environments, where many of the deepest needs are. Urbanization confers both benefits and liabilities, but the single greatest challenge for health promotion may lie in reestablishing positive social connections. In contrast, 2 key features of the inner-city environment may be the negative ecological forces within neighborhoods and the lack of control over one's fate. Too often, prescriptions for the inner city stereotype its problems and ignore its strengths. For the inner city, important foundation stones for the future include ways to build on these strengths through positive connections and increased community control through coalition building.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (86.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bauman K. E., Suchindran C. M., Murray D. M. The paucity of effects in community trials: is secular trend the culprit? Prev Med. 1999 Apr;28(4):426–429. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1998.0447. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Butterfoss F. D., Morrow A. L., Rosenthal J., Dini E., Crews R. C., Webster J. D., Louis P. CINCH: an urban coalition for empowerment and action. Consortium for the Immunization of Norfolk's Children. Health Educ Behav. 1998 Apr;25(2):212–225. doi: 10.1177/109019819802500208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cabral R. J., Galavotti C., Gargiullo P. M., Armstrong K., Cohen A., Gielen A. C., Watkinson L. Paraprofessional delivery of a theory based HIV prevention counseling intervention for women. Public Health Rep. 1996;111 (Suppl 1):75–82. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Community-level HIV intervention in 5 cities: final outcome data from the CDC AIDS Community Demonstration Projects. Am J Public Health. 1999 Mar;89(3):336–345. doi: 10.2105/ajph.89.3.336. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Freudenberg N. Community-based health education for urban populations: an overview. Health Educ Behav. 1998 Feb;25(1):11–23. doi: 10.1177/109019819802500103. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kelly J. A., St Lawrence J. S., Stevenson L. Y., Hauth A. C., Kalichman S. C., Diaz Y. E., Brasfield T. L., Koob J. J., Morgan M. G. Community AIDS/HIV risk reduction: the effects of endorsements by popular people in three cities. Am J Public Health. 1992 Nov;82(11):1483–1489. doi: 10.2105/ajph.82.11.1483. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lantz P. M., House J. S., Lepkowski J. M., Williams D. R., Mero R. P., Chen J. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and mortality: results from a nationally representative prospective study of US adults. JAMA. 1998 Jun 3;279(21):1703–1708. doi: 10.1001/jama.279.21.1703. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Laumann E. O., Youm Y. Racial/ethnic group differences in the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States: a network explanation. Sex Transm Dis. 1999 May;26(5):250–261. doi: 10.1097/00007435-199905000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Marsella A. J. Urbanization, mental health, and social deviancy. A review of issues and research. Am Psychol. 1998 Jun;53(6):624–634. doi: 10.1037//0003-066x.53.6.624. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Mechanic D. Public trust and initiatives for new health care partnerships. Milbank Q. 1998;76(2):281–302. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.00089. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Neaigus A., Friedman S. R., Jose B., Goldstein M. F., Curtis R., Ildefonso G., Des Jarlais D. C. High-risk personal networks and syringe sharing as risk factors for HIV infection among new drug injectors. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr Hum Retrovirol. 1996 Apr 15;11(5):499–509. doi: 10.1097/00042560-199604150-00011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Osofsky J. D. The impact of violence on children. Future Child. 1999 Winter;9(3):33–49. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pentz M. A., Dwyer J. H., MacKinnon D. P., Flay B. R., Hansen W. B., Wang E. Y., Johnson C. A. A multicommunity trial for primary prevention of adolescent drug abuse. Effects on drug use prevalence. JAMA. 1989 Jun 9;261(22):3259–3266. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Schwartz S. The fallacy of the ecological fallacy: the potential misuse of a concept and the consequences. Am J Public Health. 1994 May;84(5):819–824. doi: 10.2105/ajph.84.5.819. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Speers M. A., Lancaster B. Disease prevention and health promotion in urban areas: CDC's perspective. Health Educ Behav. 1998 Apr;25(2):226–233. doi: 10.1177/109019819802500209. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wandersman A., Nation M. Urban neighborhoods and mental health. Psychological contributions to understanding toxicity, resilience, and interventions. Am Psychol. 1998 Jun;53(6):647–656. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES