About the research
Ethnic minority people have been suggested to be healthier when living in areas with a higher concentration of people from their own ethnic group, a so-called ‘ethnic density effect’. Several studies have explored the protective properties of this effect on the health of ethnic minority people, but due to statistical and measurement problems, both the effect and the mechanisms by which it impacts on health remain unclear. Researchers from the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research and the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing have been investigating the effect of ethnic density on health using three UK Data Service hosted datasets.
The researchers aimed to examine the associations between ethnic density and residents’ experience of racial discrimination, perception of the area’s quality and amenities, social participation and health, and to explore how they vary across groups to see if this is across their own ethnic group density, or ethnic minority density as a whole. The researchers then aimed to model links between ethnic density and health to see if ethnic density moderated the impact of racial discrimination and deprivation on health.
Their results show that there is a stronger ethnic density effect on psychological health than physical health, with people living in areas with a high concentration of their own ethnic density reporting less psychotic symptoms. The findings also show a protective effect on current alcohol consumption.
The study also found that experiences of racial discrimination tended to be less likely in areas of high ethnic density, and that, among ethnic minority people who had experienced racial discrimination, the detrimental impact of racism on health tended to be weaker in areas of high ethnic density, suggesting that this type of density may buffer against the detrimental impact of racial discrimination on health.
Methodology
The researchers used multilevel regression models on secondary data from the three surveys. They also linked data from the Health Survey for England and the Citizenship Survey to the 2001 UK census to obtain data on ethnic density. Linkage was done via participants’ postcodes. Area boundaries were defined using ‘Middle Super Output Areas’. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, individual socio-economic position and area deprivation.
Publications
Bécares, L., Stafford, M., Laurence, J. and Nazroo, J. (2011) ‘Composition, concentration and deprivation: Exploring their association with social cohesion among different ethnic groups in the UK’, Urban Studies, 48(13), pp. 2771-2787. doi:
Bécares, L., Nazroo, J. and Stafford, M. (2011) ‘The ethnic density effect on alcohol use among ethnic minority people in the UK’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health [Online version] doi: 10.1136/jech.2009.087114
Bécares, L., Nazroo, J. and Stafford, M. (2009) ‘The buffering effects of ethnic density on experienced racism and health’, Health & Place, 15(3) pp. 700-708. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.10.008
Stafford, M., Bécares, L. and Nazroo, J. (2009) ‘Fear of racism, employment and expected organizational racism: Their association with health’, European Journal of Public Health, 19(5), pp. 504-510. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp071 Retrieved 11 September 2013 from http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/5/504.full.pdf+html
Stafford, M., Bécares, L. and Nazroo, J. (2009) Objective and perceived ethnic density and health: Findings from a UK general population survey’, American Journal of Epidemiology, 170(4), pp. 484-493. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwp160 Retrieved 11 September 2013 from http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/170/4/484.full.pdf+html
Stafford, M., Bécares, L. and Nazroo, J. (2010) ‘Racial discrimination and health: Exploring the possible protective effects of ethnic density’ in J. Stillwell and M. Ham (eds.) Ethnicity and Integration, Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-9103-1