Geography of Health Inequalities: Contextual Data Merge for Wave V of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health
Summary
The aim of this project is to develop a contextual database that summarizes the demographic, socioeconomic, health, and mobility characteristics of the environments in which participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) were living at the time of their Wave V interviews (2016-2018, ages 32-42). Specifically, we propose state-, county-, and tract-level data linkages to characterize levels of and trends in demographic characteristics of the population, chronic disease, health risk behaviors, health care access, economic opportunity, and inequality. Indeed, accumulating evidence indicates that the sociocontextual environments in which individuals are raised and live as adults are significant determinants of life course health and well-being. Yet, missing from the literature is the identification of pathways explicating how sociocontexutual mechanisms shape health and health disparities, particularly in earlier portions of life. Results of this project will thus make possible new research to test how place influences health, behavior, and social outcomes during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood and from early adulthood to midlife.