Social causation and neighborhood selection underlie associations of neighborhood factors with illicit drug-using social networks and illicit drug use among adults relocated from public housing

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Sabriya L. Linton, Emory University; Danielle F. Haley, Emory University; Josalin Hunter-Jones, Emory University; Zev Ross, ZevRoss Spatial Analysis; Hannah Cooper, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier Ltd
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.04.055
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Social Science and Medicine
• ISSN: 0277-9536
• Volume: 185
• Start Page: 81
• End Page: 90
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (R21DA027072& R01DA029513), and the Emory University Center for AIDS Research (P30AI050409).; Dr. Danielle Haley’s time was partly funded by the Robert W. Woodruff pre-doctoral fellowship of the Emory University Laney Graduate School and a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health (F31MH105238).
• Keywords: Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Social Sciences; INJECTION CESSATION; Neighborhoods; MARYLAND; Social epidemiology; Science & Technology; ADOLESCENT SMOKING; Housing; BALTIMORE; VIOLENT CRIME; FOLLOW-UP; COCAINE USE; Biomedical Social Sciences; SUBSTANCE USE; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS; HIGH-RISK; Social Sciences, Biomedical; Drug use
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Epidemiology

Abstract

Theories of social causation and social influence, which posit that neighborhood and social network characteristics are distal causes of substance use, are frequently used to interpret associations among neighborhood characteristics, social network characteristics and substance use. These associations are also hypothesized to result from selection processes, in which substance use determines where people live and who they interact with. The potential for these competing selection mechanisms to co-occur has been underexplored among adults. This study utilizes path analysis to determine the paths that relate census tract characteristics (e.g., economic deprivation), social network characteristics (i.e., having ≥ 1 illicit drug-using network member) and illicit drug use, among 172 African American adults relocated from public housing in Atlanta, Georgia and followed from 2009 to 2014 (7 waves). Individual and network-level characteristics were captured using surveys. Census tract characteristics were created using administrative data. Waves 1 (pre-relocation), 2 (1st wave post-relocation), and 7 were analyzed. When controlling for individual-level sociodemographic factors, residing in census tracts with prior economic disadvantage was significantly associated with illicit drug use at wave 1; illicit drug use at wave 1 was significantly associated with living in economically-disadvantaged census tracts at wave 2; and violent crime at wave 2 was associated with illicit drug-using social network members at wave 7. Findings from this study support theories that describe social causation and neighborhood selection processes as explaining relationships of neighborhood characteristics with illicit drug use and illicit drug-using social networks. Policies that improve local economic and social conditions of neighborhoods may discourage substance use. Future studies should further identify the barriers that prevent substance users from obtaining housing in less disadvantaged neighborhoods.