Neighborhood Characteristics and Health Literacy: Evidence from the 2023 Survey of Racism and Public Health with the 2017-2021 American Community Survey

Music City Center 

There have been speculations on the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and health literacy, and the relationships might vary across racial/ethnic groups. The study used the 2023 Survey of Racism and Public Health dataset linked with the 2017-2021 American Community Survey dataset using zip codes to obtain measures of residential segregation, neighborhood deprivation, racial and economic polarization, and racial and educational isolation. Also, the Brief Health Literacy Screen was used to assess participants' health literacy. Associations between neighborhood characteristics and limited health literacy were explored. Greater neighborhood deprivation is associated with a higher likelihood of limited health literacy. Higher racial and economic polarization is associated with decreased odds of limited health literacy. Racial isolation seems to increase with the odds of limited health literacy. These associations did not significantly vary by racial/ethnic groups. These help reveal potential critical causal pathways; higher neighborhood deprivation increases the likelihood of limited health literacy and no variation across the racial/ethnic groups within the same neighborhood.

Structural racism

Health inequities

Neighborhood deprivation

Marginalized populations

Environmental justice

limited health literacy 

Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences