Effects of Neighborhood Characteristics on Individual Health

• Main Authors: Chuan-Chi Hung, 洪銓娸
• Other Authors: Ying-Chih Chuang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/58630118129552737890

碩士 === 臺北醫學大學 === 公共衛生學系 === 93 === A growing number of studies indicated that individual health can be directly or indirectly affected by their neighborhood characteristics, such as neighborhood socioeconomic status and services. However, the influence of neighborhood characteristics on health remains unknown in Taiwan. This study examined whether neighborhood characteristics influence individual health in Taiwan. The data came from the first wave of 2000 Social Change Study, which is a nationally representative study examining social issues in Taiwan. Participants’ residential addresses were geocoded with the 2000 census for measuring neighborhood characteristics (i.e., neighborhood percentage of people under 15 years of education). We used multi-level models to examine the associations between neighborhood-level characteristics and individual-level health. Results indicated that there were significant neighborhood effects on self-rated health or functional limitations, but not on chronic condition, after adjusting for individual-level characteristics. Results showed that neighborhoods with a higher percentage of elderly and a higher percentage of people with functional limitation were associated with individual poorer self-rated health and individual functional limitations. These relationships existed after taking into account individual characteristics. The results of this study support the hypothesis that neighborhood characteristics can influence individual health in Taiwan. These results suggest that improving neighborhood context is critical for individual health, especially in the neighborhoods where most residents are elderly or have functional limitation.