The number of sociocultural institutions within ethnic enclaves may play a significant role in positively influencing the health of immigrant Asian American and Hispanic populations, according to recent research led by the University of California, Irvine. For the study, published online in the journal Social Science and Medicine , researchers created and validated two novel measures – Asian- and Hispanic-serving sociocultural institutions – to identify the different mechanisms that link majority minority neighborhoods to health outcomes. Our new measures capture aspects of local economies that may support residents through in-language and culturally appropriate services, employment and social groups that help us estimate how they impact community health.
Rather than census data, we used business listings to identify organizations that promote cultural and social identity, including arts, civic, historical, religious, social service and membership." Brittany Morey, corresponding author, associate professor of health, society and behavior, Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health An online audit of 1,627 businesses within 12 cities was conducted using keyword searches to determine potential Asian- or Hispanic-serving sociocultural institutions and assess their density within census tracts.
Exploratory regression analyses showed that a high presence of SCIs may be associated with neighborhood-level health indicators. Researchers discovered a larger percentage of resi.