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Ethnic density, social support, and loneliness among Chinese immigrants in Philadelphia.

ABSTRACT: Living in more 'ethnically dense' areas is thought to promote health, possibly by facilitating social support and a sense of belonging. Because of kin networks and cultural obligations, family relationships may be particularly important for Asian immigrants. Chinese-origin individuals are the largest group of Asian Americans and among the most highly segregated, but the psychosocial benefits of living in Chinese neighborhoods are not established. We examined whether Chinese immigrants in areas of higher ethnic density report more social support from family and friends, and less loneliness. For 606 participants recruited 1/2016-5/2019 throughout the Philadelphia region, residences were linked to American Community Survey 2013-2017 data. Ethnic density, operationalized as percent of Census tract residents who were Chinese, was categorized into quintiles. Family/friend support and loneliness were self-reported, then dichotomized to distinguish high levels of family support, friend support, and loneliness. In logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, and individual- and tract-level socioeconomic characteristics, ethnic density was associated with high family support (odds ratio (OR) 1.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09, 3.11) for highest vs. lowest ethnic density quintile)) and inversely associated with loneliness (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.12, 0.79, highest vs. lowest quintile). Our findings support the hypothesis that residents of areas with higher ethnic density report more social support from family and less loneliness. Whether these benefits arise from characteristics of the community overall or from the aggregation of individual assets remains to be clarified but has implications for efforts to develop community resources that would benefit all their residents.

SUBMITTER: Tseng M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8423378 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:ObjectiveThis study examined the cross-sectional relationships between neighborhood social composition and gentrification, and acculturation stressors.MethodsPerson-level data came from first-generation Chinese immigrants enrolled in the Immigrant Enclaves Study (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, baseline 2018-2020, N = 512). A validated scale was used to assess 22 stressors associated with migration or acculturation. Neighborhood characteristics from the American Community Survey 2015-2019 and 2008-2012 included: tract proportion of foreign born Chinese, neighborhood wealth, and past decade gentrification. Most neighborhood exposures were modeled as continuous as well as binary variables (intended to represent highest level of neighborhood exposure). Multivariable negative binomial regression adjusted for age, gender, income, education, employment, language, years in the U.S., and neighborhood variables (proportion co-ethnic, and neighborhood per capita income).ResultsThe majority of participants spoke Mandarin (68% vs Cantonese 32%), mean participant age was 52.7 years old, years in the US was 18, and nearly one-half of the sample had less than 8 years of education. Mean number of stressors was 5.9 with nearly 20% of participants reporting 11 or more stressors. Multivariable results found the number of acculturation stressors was 18% lower for residents in the highest co-ethnic density neighborhoods and 13% lower for residents in the highest wealth areas, compared to other areas (expβ 0.82, 95% CI [CI] 0.69, 0.98; expβ 0.87, CI 0.75, 1.01, respectively). Stressors were no different whether participants lived in gentrified areas or not.ConclusionsAmong middle-aged Chinese immigrants, acculturation stress was lower for residents in neighborhoods with higher proportion of Chinese immigrants and for residents in neighborhoods with higher wealth, whereas gentrification had no influence on acculturation stress. More work on this topic is needed with vulnerable populations such as this one, informed by local context.

Dataset Information

Ethnic density, social support, and loneliness among Chinese immigrants in Philadelphia.

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