Healthy enclaves or isolated neighborhoods? Understanding the role of racial residential segregation on the health status of Asian Americans

acial residential segregation is known to affect the social, physical, and mental well-being of segregated minority groups in the United States. Racial residential segregation creates different exposures to a variety of resources that enhance health, including economic opportunity and access to health-promoting resources such as grocery stores and parks. Racial residential segregation also increases exposure to adverse conditions such as crime, alcohol, and toxic air pollutants. Few studies examining the relationship between segregation and health have focused on Asian Americans. However, data show that several Asian Americans groups experience considerable racial residential segregation, and are now the fastest growing population in the country. Furthermore, high-degrees of segregation have enabled political power in Black communities as a mechanism to counter the negative effects of isolation. Much less, however, is known about the effects of segregation on the political and social capital of Asian Americans and its benefits to health. Further research is needed to test the complex association between residential segregation, its mechanistic pathways, and overall health status of Asian Americans.;In this three-paper dissertation, I ask 1) What are the potential mechanisms by which racial segregation is associated with self-rated physical and mental health status among Asian Americans in the United States? 2) How does social capital and political empowerment, moderate the association of racial segregation and self-rated mental health status among Asian Americans? 3) How can building political empowerment be utilized by public health departments to address the effects of racial segregation and the health of Asian Americans? Paper...