Skip to page content

Neighborhood Influences on Health

Featured

Essay
Environmental Racism: How Historic Redlining Continues to Affect Communities
Starting in the 1930s, neighborhoods across America were redlined—marked on government maps as too hazardous, as in, too Black or too immigrant, for federal home loans. When zoning officials needed somewhere to put a new factory or freeway, those redlined neighborhoods were like a bullseye that they hit again and again.
Jun 27, 2022
Research Brief
Removing Barriers to Vaccination for Black Americans
To improve Black Americans' confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, health care organizations and the public health system need to become more trustworthy. Honesty about historical and ongoing discrimination and working with communities to provide equitable, accessible care could help.
Aug 6, 2021

Explore Neighborhood Influences on Health

Journal Article
Neighborhood Walkability, Neighborhood Social Health, and Self-Selection Among U.S. Adults
Neighborhood walkability may promote specific aspects of neighborhood social health, which together are beneficial for physical and mental health. These findings provide additional impetus for enhancing walkability of US communities.
Jun 22, 2023
Journal Article
Do Social Isolation and Neighborhood Walkability Influence Relationships Between COVID-19 Experiences and Wellbeing in Predominantly Black Urban Areas?
Black Americans have been disproportionately affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) pandemic.
Jan 31, 2023
Journal Article
Examining the Cross-sectional Association Between Neighborhood Conditions, Discrimination, and Telomere Length in a Predominantly African American Sample
Disproportionate exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions and greater discrimination may contribute to health disparities among African Americans.
Jan 10, 2023
Journal Article
City-Heat Equity Adaptation Tool (City-HEAT): Multi-objective Optimization of Environmental Modifications and Human Heat Exposure Reductions for Urban Heat Adaptation Under Uncertainty
Rising global temperatures and the urban heat island effect can amplify heat-related health risks to residents. Cities are considering various heat adaptation actions to improve public health, enhance social equity, and cope with future conditions.
Jan 4, 2023
Journal Article
Sleep Disturbances, Changes in Sleep, and Cognitive Function in Low-Income African Americans
In a predominantly African-American sample of older adults, worsening of sleep efficiency was associated with poorer cognitive function. Improving sleep health may support Alzheimer's prevention and reduce health disparities.
Jun 23, 2022
Tool
Environmental Racism: A Tool for Exploring the Enduring Legacy of Redlining on Urban Environments
Researchers developed an online tool for visualizing the spatial relationships between the discriminatory practice of redlining and exposure to environmental hazards (e.g., pollution, waste sites).
Mar 31, 2022
Multimedia
RAND Video Highlights of 2021
The best RAND videos from the past year brought our research to life in new ways. From the sidewalks of Pittsburgh to preschools in the Middle East, see how people around the world are using RAND research to make their communities safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.
Dec 20, 2021
Project
What Does a Portrait of Community Stress Look Like?
Just as it does in the human body, stress can build in a community over time, making it harder to respond to future traumas and crises. Design studio Morcos Key created a powerful animation that depicts community stress—and what can be done to overcome it.
Nov 22, 2021
Journal Article
Data-driven Decision Support Tools for Assessing the Vulnerability of Community Water Systems to Groundwater Contamination in Los Angeles County
This research aims to develop an easy to deploy, data-driven method to identify community water systems that are vulnerable to drinking water quality degradation from groundwater contamination.
Jul 28, 2021
Essay
How RAND Applies an Equity Lens to Research and Analysis
RAND recognizes that serving the public good requires tackling the factors that contribute to inequities head-on. Current projects focus on such issues as environmental racism, mass incarceration, and anti-Asian violence.
Jul 7, 2021
Blog
China's Ambitions, Origins of the Coronavirus, Income Inequality: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on China’s quest for global primacy, understanding the coronavirus origin story, how parents feel about sending their children back to school, and more.
Jun 11, 2021
Journal Article
Do Investments in Low-Income Neighborhoods Produce Objective Change in Health-Related Neighborhood Conditions?
This study examined the effect of neighborhood investments on neighborhood walkability, presence of incivilities, and crime in two low-income, primarily African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
Mar 16, 2021
Journal Article
Changes in Perceptions of Neighborhood Environment and Cardiometabolic Outcomes in Two Predominantly African American Neighborhoods
Perceived neighborhood characteristics, including satisfaction with one's neighborhood as a place to live, are associated with lower obesity rates and more favorable cardiovascular risk factor profiles.
Mar 16, 2021
Journal Article
An Audit Tool for Longitudinal Assessment of the Health-Related Characteristics of Urban Neighborhoods: Implementation Methods and Reliability Results
To identify neighborhood features that are predictors of health, objective assessments of the environment are used. In this paper, we have described implementation methods, reliability results and lessons learned to inform future studies of change.
Mar 16, 2021
Journal Article
A Preliminary Study of a Composite Sleep Health Score: Associations with Psychological Distress, Body Mass Index, and Physical Functioning in a Low-Income African American Community
The current study investigates associations of five sleep dimensions, analyzed separately and simultaneously, with psychological distress, body mass index, and physical functioning among a low-income, predominantly African American population.
Mar 16, 2021
Journal Article
Recent Updates in the Social and Environmental Determinants of Sleep Health
In this brief review article, we provide an overview of recent (since 2010) scientific contributions to our understanding of the social and environmental determinants of sleep health.
Mar 16, 2021
Journal Article
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, Sleep Duration, and Napping in Middle-To-Old Aged US Men and Women
In over 300,000 middle-to-old aged Americans, we examined neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and change in neighborhood SES in relation to nocturnal sleep duration and napping.
Mar 15, 2021
Journal Article
Food Insecurity in a Low-Income, Predominantly African American Cohort Following the COVID-19 Pandemic
Longitudinal data highlight profound inequities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Existing policies appear inadequate to address the widening gap.
Mar 11, 2021

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Chloe E. Bird

Adjunct Sociologist

Chloe E. Bird (she/her), an adjunct sociologist at the RAND Corporation and professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School studies women's health and determinants of sex/gender differences in health and health care. Bird has served as senior advisor in the National Institutes of…
Linnea Warren May

Associate Policy Researcher

Linnea Warren May (she/her) is an associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation with expertise at the nexus of health, social equity, environment, and infrastructure. She has over ten years of experience applying qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-engaged approaches to policy…

Explore Our People »