Racial/Ethnic Residential Clustering, Experiences with Discrimination, and Self-Rated Health across the Houston Area.

Prior research has established a link between racial/ethnic residential segregation and a number of poor life outcomes, including health. Although much of this work points to discrimination and the structural inequalities tied to segregation, few studies to date have directly examined whether segregation relates to individual-level experiences with discrimination and whether this can mediate the relationship between segregation and poor health outcomes. We test these associations in a study of the Houston area, using the Kinder Houston Area Survey (KHAS) and the Census' American Community Survey (ACS) in a series of multilevel cumulative ordered regression models. We find that neighborhood-level racial/ethnic residential clustering is related to a greater frequency of perceived discrimination, but only for Black clustering and not Latino or Asian clustering. Moreover, Black clustering is also related to poorer self-rated health, and this association is at least partially mediated by perceived discrimination. Beyond the structural implications of segregation for poor health, segregation also appears to shape experiences with discrimination in ways that are deleterious to health. This has important implications for thinking about public health and policy regarding housing discrimination and residential segregation.