African American adolescents residing in the South are at increased risk for obesity and physical inactivity, yet our understanding of potential influences is limited.

Objectives: Aging adults face an increased risk of adverse health events as well as risk for a decrease in personal competencies across multiple domains. These factors may inhibit the ability of an older adult to age in place and may result in a nursing home admission (NHA). This study combines insights from Lawton's environmental press theory with the neighborhood disadvantage (ND) literature to examine the interaction of the neighborhood environment and individual characteristics on NHA. Methods: Characteristics associated with the likelihood of NHA for community-dwelling older adults were examined using data collected for 8.5 years from the UAB Study of Aging. Logistic regression models were used to test direct effects of ND on NHA for all participants. The sample was then stratified into 3 tiers of ND to examine differences in individual-level factors by level of ND. Results: There was no direct link between living in a disadvantaged neighborhood environment and likelihood of NHA, but physical impairment was associated with NHA for older adults living highly disadvantaged neighborhood environments in contrast to older adults living in less disadvantaged neighborhood environments, where no association was observed. Discussion: These outcomes highlight (a) the usefulness of linking Lawton's theories of the environment with the ND literature to assess health-related outcomes and (b) the importance of neighborhood environment for older adults' ability to age in place.

OBJECTIVESWe examined individual, household, and neighborhood correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) before and during pregnancy.METHODSWe used multilevel modeling to investigate IPV among 2887 pregnant women in 112 census tracts who sought prenatal care in 8 public clinics in Jefferson County, Alabama, from 1997 through 2001. Data were collected from the Perinatal Emphasis Research Center project, the 2000 Census, and the local Sheriff and Police Departments Uniform Crime Reports for 1997 through 2001.RESULTSParticipants were predominantly young, African American, on Medicaid, and residents of low-income neighborhoods. The prevalence of past-year male partner-perpetrated physical or sexual violence was 7.4%. Neighborhood residential stability, women performing most of the housework (lack of involvement among partners), being unmarried (being in an uncommitted relationship), and alcohol use were positively associated with elevated IPV risk. Significant protective factors for IPV included older age at first vaginal intercourse and a greater sense of mastery (e.g., the perception of oneself as an effective person).CONCLUSIONSBoth neighborhood contextual and individual and household compositional effects are associated with IPV among low-income pregnant women. The results imply that combined interventions to improve neighborhood conditions and strengthen families may effectively reduce IPV.

Homeless persons depend disproportionately on the health-care safety net for medical services. National reports identify financial strains to this safety net. Whether this has affected homeless persons is unknown.We quantified changes in the proportion of homeless persons reporting unmet need for health care in Birmingham, Alabama, comparing two periods, 1995 and 2005. We assessed whether a period effect was independent of characteristics of persons surveyed.Analysis of two surveys conducted with identical methods among representative samples of homeless persons in 1995 (n = 161) and 2005 (n = 161).Report of unmet need (inability to obtain care when needed) was the dependent variable. Two survey periods (1995 and 2005) were compared, with multivariable adjustment for sociodemographic and health characteristics. Reasons for unmet need were determined among the subset of persons reporting unmet need.Unmet need for health care was more common in 2005 (54%) than in 1995 (32%) (p < 0.0001), especially for non-Blacks (64%) and females (65%). Adjusting for individual characteristics, a survey year of 2005 independently predicted unmet need (odds ratio 2.68, 95% CI 1.49-4.83). Among persons reporting unmet need (87 of 161 in 2005; 52 of 161 in 1995), financial barriers were more commonly cited in 2005 (67% of 87) than in 1995 (42% of 52) (p = 0.01).A rise in unmet health-care needs was reported among Birmingham's homeless from 1995 to 2005. This period effect was independent of population characteristics and may implicate a local safety net inadequacy. Additional data are needed to determine if this represents a national trend.

This paper explores the role of social capital in mediating the effects of stressors on depression among a disadvantaged population. Utilizing a survey of 155 homeless people in a mid-sized southern U.S. city, the authors address the relevance of social capital for quality of life. The paper provides a critical test of whether social support and other forms of social capital matter when monetary and human capital is extremely limited. Under these resource-restricted circumstances does social capital add to our understanding of the distress process or does it merely restate the well established relationship between social support and quality of life outcomes? Various forms of social capital are measured: religious social capital, group participation, social trust, and bridging social capital along with a commonly used measure of social support -- perceived strong tie support. Findings suggest that social capital matters for even the most resource poor populations. In addition, social capital variables add significantly to the variance explained in depressive symptomatology over and above that traditionally explained by perceived social support.

Suicide ideation is a sensitive indicator of personal well-being. While ideation occurs in roughly 3 percent of the US population annually, in this study rates are 10 times higher. This article explores the role of social capital in mediating negative life circumstances on ideation for a sample of 161 homeless adults in a mid-sized Southern US metropolitan area. Our results imply that social capital does not function the same way for homeless persons as it does for the general population. This finding supports growing evidence that social capital's much touted benefits for personal well-being may not apply to disadvantaged populations.

Using survey data from former Head Start children in the third grade from 15 sites across the nation (n = 576), this study examines the relationship between maternal subjective neighborhood attributions and their children's behavioral problems. Maternal perceptions of neighborhood characteristics were measured across five domains, including collective efficacy, barriers to services, negative neighbor affects, probability of child status attainment success, and overall neighborhood rating. Children's problem behaviors, measured with the Social Skills Rating System, includes externalizing and internalizing outcomes. Our results suggest that the worse the maternal assessments on each neighborhood construct, the greater the extent of children's problem behavior, holding constant child demographic factors and parental socioeconomic status. In addition, we find that family income effects on children's problem behavior are partially mediated by these perceived neighborhood domains. Taken together, these results suggest that neighborhood deprivation is related to problematic behavioral outcomes in children.

Focusing on the role of capital as both personal and social resources for adolescents, the authors examined depressive symptomatology among a sample of 10- to 18-year-old African American youths (N=1,538). In addition to gender and age differences, adolescents exposed to threatening environments (school, neighborhood, home) reported more depressive symptoms. Social capital had a significant inverse relationship with adolescent depression; self-esteem and a social capital index were negatively related to depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, the interaction effects of gender with social capital, age with self-esteem, and age with grades were significant, indicating the presence of a buffering effect. These findings suggest the importance of interrelationships among violence exposure, capital, and well-being for adolescents.

Central to urban sociology is the assumption that place matters. Yet, urban sociology has virtually ignored the role of place in understanding a critical aspect of personal and collective well–being—health. This article attempts to synthesize major sociological theories of health, within an urban ecological framework, in an effort to provide insight into how the distinct spatial qualities of neighborhoods impact the health risks, beliefs, and behaviors of their residents. Because the ecology of metropolitan regions is a landscape of uneven risk, hazard, and protection, it produces dramatic differences in the physical and mental health of its residents. Most affected by this process have been inner–city, disadvantaged populations who have shouldered the primary weight of the “urban health penalty.”

According to recent investigations of social capital, this social resource represents a key ingredient in a community’s capacity to respond to environmental challenges and promote change. This article investigates the significance of social capital for the health and well‐being of inner‐city residents using data collected from a sample of household decisionmakers residing in a high‐poverty, racially segregated urban neighborhood in a mid‐sized southern city (N=222). A psychosocial resources model of distress is employed to explore the role of social capital as a critical social resource mediating the impact of poverty‐related economic and environmental stressors on residents’ mental health. Regression analyses show no mediating effect of social capital on the relationships between economic and environmental stressors and mental health. While bridging social capital displays a small inverse relationship with distress, bonding social capital is actually positively related to mental distress. Bonding social capital appears to increase individuals’ levels of mental distress in this impoverished community. On the other hand, a psychological resource, mastery, plays a significant role in mediating the harmful effects of poverty. These findings suggest the need for some modification of recent claims that social capital is a critical resource promoting individual and community well‐being. Apparently, in high‐poverty, high‐minority, inner‐city communities, active participation in the local area comes at some cost to the individual. This article demonstrates the importance of doing further research on the social capital of inner‐city areas.

We examine gender differences in patterns of social support among the homeless, testing genderspecific mediation models of the effects of social supports on psychological distress for a systematic sample of 150 homeless men and women in Birmingham, Alabama. Our research demonstrates that homeless women receive both more instrumental and more expressive support. These supports, however, do not advantage homeless women. The distress process appears different for males and females. For males and females, life events stimulate social support, but the effect is nearly twice as large for women. Life events' effects on mastery differ with women's mastery being affected negatively and men's being unaffected by undesirable life events. Gender differences in the mediation process are also notable. For males, life events increase supports; supports, in turn, are associated with lower depression. For women, while life events also increase supports, these supports are associated with higher depression.