Table 2.

Social Neighborhood Influences on Youth Health Outcomes

Citation/Neighborhood level variable	Age range or mean ± SD/Sample size	Type of study/Sample	Outcome/Construct measurement/Finding	Alternatives: Follow-up, covariates, reverse causation
Sternthal et al., 2010 Exposure to community violence (caregiver reported)	0–9 years N = 2071	Longitudinal Children part of a longitudinal Chicago-based study drawn from a stratified probability sample of 80 Chicago neighborhoods	Physician-diagnosed asthma and use of prescription asthma medication (both parent-reported) Exposure to community violence was associated with elevated asthma risk; youth with medium or high exposure to violence had a greater likelihood of asthma at follow-up, compared to those exposed to low violence	~ 3-year follow-up Controlled for sociodemographics, child age, maternal asthma, family violence in the home, neighborhood disadvantage, neighborhood social disorder and neighborhood collective efficacy
Suglia et al., 2008 Exposure to community violence (caregiver reported)	6–7 years N = 330	Longitudinal Children part of a prospective birth cohort from East Boston	Youth lung functioning, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume during one second (FEV1) Boys exposed to the most violence had lower FVC and FEV1 compared to those exposed to less violence. No relationship for girls	Followed since birth Controlled for maternal education, child age, race/ethnicity, birth weight, and pre- and postnatal smoking exposure
Gupta et al., 2009 Community vitality; combination of social capital, economic potential, community amenities	Kindergarten through grade 8 children N = 45,177	Cross-sectional Stratified sample of children attending Chicago public/Catholic schools	Caregiver-reported asthma prevalence Greater civic engagement, community diversity, economic vigor, community amenities at the neighborhood level associated with lower asthma rates; however, greater neighborhood stability and potential for interaction (more families, more adults not in work force) associated with greater asthma rates	When considering socio-demographic and individual characteristics, social capital and overall community vitality still contribute significantly to asthma variation
Cagney & Browning, 2004 Collective efficacy; combination of social cohesion and informal social control	18+ years N = 8,782	Cross-sectional Representative sample of Chicago residents, selected by neighborhood clusters and interviewed over the phone	Self-reported physician-diagnosed asthma Collective efficacy is protective against asthma	Controlled for demographics, education, income, smoking, family status, insurance, source of care
Wright et al., 2004b Neighborhood violence	5–12 years N = 937 (851 caretakers)	Cross-sectional Families with youth with at least 1 hospitalization or 2 emergency department visits for asthma during the 6 months before screening from 7 US cities.	Caretaker-reported wheezing, sleep disruption, or interference with play activities caused by asthma during the preceding 2 weeks Greater exposure to violence was associated with greater asthma morbidity	Results remain significant after controlling for income, employment status, care-taker education, housing problems, and other adverse life events. Psychological stress and caretaker behaviors partially explained the findings.
Chen et al., 2007 Neighborhood problems, e.g. crime, drug use	9–18 years N = 78	Cross-sectional Youth with asthma recruited from the general population	Self-reported asthma symptoms and pulmonary functioning in the laboratory and at home More neighborhood problems associated with greater symptoms	Controlled for demographics, asthma severity. Youth smoking behaviors mediated the relationship between greater neighborhood problems and greater symptoms.
Wright et al., 2001 Neighborhood violence	Youth aged 3, 9, 12, and 15 years N = 4	Case studies	Exposure to violence led to asthma exacerbations and hospitalizations
Duke et al., 2010 Neighborhood social capital and safety (parent-reported)	Parents of 6–17 year olds N = 64,076	Cross-sectional Participants of the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health	Youth BMI (parent-reported height and weight) and youth aerobic exercise (parent-reported) Youth from neighborhoods characterized as safe and having greater social capital were more likely to have a healthy weight and engage in aerobic exercise	Controlled for sociodemographics, family structure, household at or below poverty level, parent education
Cecil-Karb & Grogan-Kaylor, 2009 Neighborhood safety (parent-reported)	5–20 years N = 5,886	Cross-sectional Youth part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth	Age- and gender-specific BMI Youth from neighborhoods deemed unsafe by their parents had higher BMIs and were more likely to be overweight, possibly because they spend more time indoors in sedentary activities	Controlled for sociodemographics, maternal education, and income
Duncan et al., 2009 Neighborhood safety (youth-reported)	Grade 9–12 students N = 1140	Cross-sectional Youth part of the 2006 Boston Youth Survey, selected through a two-stage, stratified sampling procedure	BMI (self-reported weight and height) Youth belonging to the ‘other race’ category coming from an unsafe environment were more likely to be overweight	Controlled for sociodemographics, grade, clustering and observations by school
Cohen et al., 2006 Community-level collective efficacy (social cohesion and informal social control; community-reported)	12–17 years N = 807	Cross-sectional In each household with children part of the LA FANS study, a randomly selected child was interviewed	BMI (self-reported weight and height) Controlling for neighborhood disadvantage, greater collective efficacy is associated with lower BMI and lower risk of overweight	Adjusted for predictors of BMI at the neighborhood level, and characteristics of primary care giver and adolescents
Franzini et al., 2009 Neighborhood collective efficacy, consisting of social cohesion and informal social control; collective socialization, social ties, favors exchanged in neighborhood, safety	Grade 5 students N = 650	Cross-sectional Recruited as part of a larger study in 3 US cities/metropolitan areas	BMI, self-reported physical activity All indicators of the social neighborhood environment were positively associated with self-reported physical activity and physical activity was negatively associated with BMI	Controlled for children’s sociodemographic characteristics
Cradock et al., 2009 Neighborhood social cohesion (assessed through community survey)	11–15 years N = 680	Longitudinal Youth part of the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods	Self-reported general physical activity and parent-reported participation in school- or community-based recreational activities Youth from neighborhoods with greater social cohesion were less likely to be inactive (not participating in school- or community-based activities) at baseline and more likely to be physically active 2 years later	2 year follow-up Controlled for sociodemographics, youth weight status, household education
Gordon-Larsen et al., 2000 Neighborhood crime (various sources, including national crime statistics)	Grade 7–12 N = 17,766	Cross-sectional Nationally representative sample from the 1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health	Self-reported weekly hours of inactivity and moderate to vigorous physical activity Serious neighborhood crime decreased the likelihood of youth being in the highest physical activity category	Controlled for sociodemographics, gender, age, household income, maternal education, ethnicity, pregnancy status, mother/father in household, whether respondent was in school at the time of the interview, recreation center use, weekly PE classes
Kimbro et al., 2011 Neighborhood collective efficacy (parent-reported)	5 years N = 1822	Cross-sectional Youth part of the U.S. Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study	Youth (in)activity: parent-reported outdoor play and television viewing Youth living in neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy spent more time on outdoor play and less on television viewing	Controlled for sociodemographics, parent-reported child health, maternal education, maternal employment, child enrolment in daycare or similar program, presence of siblings, season, family structure, maternal depression, maternal BMI
Merom et al., 2006 Parent-perceived safety of school commute	5–12 years N = 812	Cross-sectional Randomly selected households in New South Wales, Australia	Parent-reported active commuting, i.e. walking or cycling, to school If perceived safety was greater, youth were more likely to walk or cycle to school
Weir et al., 2006 Parent-perceived neighborhood safety (parent-reported)	5–10 years N = 305	Cross-sectional Recruited parents and children with a scheduled appointment at an inner city health center or suburban private practice	Youth physical activity (parent-reported) Among inner city children only, greater parental anxiety about neighborhood safety was associated with lower youth physical activity	Controlled for child age, sex, parent education, and ethnicity

Note: For the second part of this table concerning youth obesity we first list papers investigating neighborhood influences on BMI, followed by papers investigating neighborhood influences on physical activity behaviors.