The Measurement of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics and Black and White Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Detroit: Implications for the Study of Social Disparities in Health

Abstract

Research has suggested that the pattern of residence (integration or segregation) alone is insufficient to explain health disparities by race. Socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods where blacks and whites reside must also be considered to explain health disparities. This article has three aims: (1) to describe the component socioeconomic characteristics of census tracts (neighborhoods) of residence in metropolitan Detroit in 2000 for three indexes of socioeconomic position (SEP); (2) to assess the concordance of the three indexes of SEP of census tracts (neighborhoods) categorized into quintiles based on metropolitan Detroit census data in 2000; and (3) to compare the extent to which black–white residential segregation is revealed by SEP of neighborhoods in metropolitan Detroit. Census data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (SF3) were used to define three indexes of SEP of neighborhoods, the modified Darden/Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index, the modified Krieger Composite Deprivation Index, and an index of percentage poverty. Residential segregation was measured using the index of dissimilarity. The three indexes similarly captured variability in neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. Further, sharp geographic inequality was revealed by race and socioeconomic status in the Detroit metropolitan area. The social and spatial structure created by the indexes will help researchers and policymakers better understand the effects of racial and socioeconomic characteristics as well as racial residential segregation on the complex factors related to social disparities in health by race.