- Guan, Alice;
- Kim-Mozeleski, Jin E;
- Vyas, Priyanka;
- Stewart, Susan L;
- Gildengorin, Ginny;
- Burke, Nancy J;
- Ma, Kris;
- Pham, Amber T;
- Tan, Judy;
- Lu, Qian;
- McPhee, Stephen J;
- Tsoh, Janice Y
Immigrants tend to live in areas with higher co-ethnic density, and the effect of neighborhood ethnic composition could be particularly salient for health. This study explored associations between neighborhood ethnic composition and self-rated health among Asian immigrants. We analyzed data collected at baseline from 670 Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants enrolled in a lifestyle intervention trial. Residential addresses were geocoded and combined with neighborhood socio-demographic profiles based on census data. We used generalized estimating equations to examine neighborhood ethnic composition and self-rated health. Independent of individual-level factors, living in neighborhoods more densely populated by whites was associated with poor/fair self-rated health. Neighborhood household income and density of participants' own ethnic group were not associated with poor/fair self-rated health. More research is warranted to disentangle reasons why Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants living in white-concentrated neighborhoods reported poorer self-rated health, including investigating effects of discrimination, relative deprivation, and availability of social resources.