Neighborhood Social and Environmental Factors and Asthma Among Children Living in Low-Income Neighborhoods: The Importance of Informal Social Control

Fam Community Health. 2018 Oct/Dec;41(4):214-224. doi: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000202.

Abstract

Despite the knowledge that children in low-income neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to asthma, few studies of child asthma focus on variation among low-income neighborhoods. We examined the relationship between child asthma and features associated with neighborhood poverty including safety, social cohesion, informal social control, collective efficacy, and disorder, across a sample of children from low-income neighborhoods (N = 3010; 2005-2007). Results show that the relationship between asthma and poverty is accounted for by family-level characteristics, but informal social control remains significantly and positively related to asthma after accounting for family-level characteristics. We discuss the importance of neighborhood environmental features for children's asthma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Asthma / epidemiology*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Poverty
  • Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data*
  • Social Control, Informal / methods*