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Kain's spatial mismatch hypothesis (SMH) (1968) highlights the segregation of Black population in the inner city as well as the decentralization of jobs, both of which played a role in the poor labor market outcomes for Black residents in the inner city. Demographic and economic changes in U.S. metropolitan areas since the late 20th century have transformed the urban spatial structure. This paper aims to revisit the SMH and investigate whether the spatial pattern of mismatch has changed as a result of geographic shifts in the Black population. This paper specifically examines how the suburbanization of the Black population has affected the geographic patterns of mismatch and whether the mismatch is disappearing in the major U.S. metropolitan areas. Using spatial measures of mismatch, this paper presents intra‐metropolitan spatial mismatch patterns that capture the clustering of jobs and the Black population based on their relative distributions, showing that the overall level of spatial mismatch declined in major U.S. metropolitan areas between 2000 and 2015. However, geographical evidence reveals that the spatial mismatch has shifted to the outer suburbs, replicating city‐suburb spatial inequality, implying that although mismatch may have declined in the inner city due to Black suburbanization, spatial mismatch continue to persist in U.S. metropolitan areas in Black suburbs. The findings also demonstrate that although spatial mismatch generally declined in the inner city, it increased in cities with high inner city polarization, particularly New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We conducted 2 studies to determine the impact of text message immunization reminder-recalls in an urban, low-income population. Methods. In 1 study, text message immunization reminders were sent to a random sample of parents (n=195) whose children aged 11 to 18 years needed either or both meningococcal (MCV4) and tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) immunizations. We compared receipt of MCV4 or Tdap at 4, 12, and 24 weeks with age- and gender-matched controls. In the other study, we compared attendance at a postshortage Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib) immunization recall session between parents who received text message and paper-mailed reminders (n=87) and those who only received paper-mailed reminders (n=87). Results. Significantly more adolescents with intervention parents received either or both MCV4 and Tdap at weeks 4 (15.4% vs 4.2%; P<.001), 12 (26.7% vs 13.9%; P<.005), and 24 (36.4% vs 18.1%; P<.001). Significantly more parents who received both Hib reminders attended a recall session compared with parents who only received a mailed reminder (21.8% vs 9.2%; P<.05). After controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, insurance status, and language, text messaging was still significantly associated with both studies' outcomes. Conclusions. Text messaging for reminder-recalls improved immunization coverage in a low-income, urban population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Route planning represents a major challenge with a substantial impact on safety, economy, and even climate. An ever-growing urban population caused a significant increase in commuting times, therefore, stressing the prominence of efficient real-time route planning. In essence, the goal is to compute the fastest route to reach the target location in a realistic environment where traffic conditions are time-evolving. Consequently, a large volume of traffic data is potentially required and the route continuously updated. We thereby address the re-routing problem to answer questions such as when, how often, and where is re-routing worthwhile. We base our study on a real dataset, comprising the travel times of the road segments of New York, London, and Chicago, collected over three months. By exploiting this dataset, we implement an optimal algorithm, able to mimic ideal predictions of road segment speeds in the network. Thereby, allowing us to compute the lower bound of travel-time to serve as a reference against other routing techniques. Mainly, we quantify the achieved travel-time gain of a static, no re-routing, and continuous re-routing strategies. Surprisingly, we find that traffic conditions are sufficiently stable for short time windows, and re-routing a vehicle is very seldom useful when exploiting accurate statistics at departure time. Typically, real-time re-routing should only be triggered during rush hours, for long routes, passing through well-identified road segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The paper examines the role of community-based participatory research (CBPR) within the context of social justice literature and practice. Methods: Two CBPR case studies addressing health inequities related to Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease were selected from a national cross-site study assessing effective academic-community research partnerships. One CBPR partnership works with African Americans in rural Pemiscot County, Missouri and the other CBPR partnership works with African American and Latinos in urban South Bronx, New York City. Data collection included semi-structured key informant interviews and focus groups. Analysis focused on partnerships' context/ history and their use of multiple justice-oriented strategies to achieve systemic and policy changes in order to address social determinants of health in their communities. Results: Community context and history shaped each partnership's strategies to address social determinants. Four social justice approaches (identity/recognition, procedural, distributive, and structural justice) used by both partnerships were identified. These social justice approaches were employed to address underlying causes of inequitable distribution of resources and power structures, while remaining within a scientific research framework. Conclusion: CBPR can bridge the role of science with civic engagement and political participation, empowering community members to become political agents who integrate evidence into their social justice organizing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parks play a critical role in the health and well-being of people in urban environments. Recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the importance of public parks, particularly in cities. To maximize the benefits of these spaces, it is important to understand the social dimension of site user experiences within successful urban parks. Social media data provide a means to assess public places through the lens of large quantities of site users over time. Recent landscape research studies provide assessments of urban and nature-based locations using social media data and are predominantly quantitative in their methodologies (Havinga et al., 2021; Donahue et al., 2018; Wood et al., 2013). However, incorporating mixed methods into existing approaches can create a better understanding of site user experiences. This study uses 11,419 Tripadvisor reviews from the years 2010 to 2018 in a multi-step process, where qualitative content analysis builds upon Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) modeling topics to assess the semantic content of Bryant Park, NY. The new framework emerging from this process separates site user perceptions and sentiment positivity into categories. Site design elements are revealed as a major positive focus of site users, along with the position of the park within the urban fabric, site activity consisting of passive pastimes, and the essence of the space related to emotions. The study's findings can provide guidance for designers and park managers for the creation of successful urban parks and provide another baseline for research on New York City's parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines an important element of New Yorkers' legal rhetoric in support of abolition: their use of ideas grounded in the laws of war. It analyzes how New York abolitionists used the rules governing warfare between 1830 and 1860 both to attack the legality of slavery and to justify slaves' enduring right to rebel and escape.

Research on incarceration has focused on prisons, but jail detention is far more common than imprisonment. Jails are local institutions that detain people before trial or incarcerate them for short sentences for low-level offenses. Research from the 1970s and 1980s viewed jails as "managing the rabble," a small and deeply disadvantaged segment of urban populations that struggled with problems of addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. The 1990s and 2000s marked a period of mass criminalization in which new styles of policing and court processing produced large numbers of criminal cases for minor crimes, concentrated in lowincome communities of color. In a period of widespread criminal justice contact for minor offenses, how common is jail incarceration for minority men, particularly in poor neighborhoods? We estimate cumulative risks of jail incarceration with an administrative data file that records all jail admissions and discharges in New York City from 2008 to 2017. Although New York has a low jail incarceration rate, we find that 26.8% of Black men and 16.2% of Latino men, in contrast to only 3% of White men, in New York have been jailed by age 38 y. We also find evidence of high rates of repeated incarceration among Black men and high incarceration risks in high-poverty neighborhoods. Despite the jail's great reach in New York, we also find that the incarcerated population declined in the study period, producing a large reduction in the prevalence of jail incarceration for Black and Latino men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Strong economy, large population and rapid urbanizationare three basic conditions to open a subway. • It is best for thefirst subway line to be straightto connect the city center and suburbs. • A stronger correlation between line length and t urban population did emerge as the lines grew. • The length of the subway lines in the first year was related to the built-up area of the city. The number of metro lines increases every year, with most new projects being located in developing countries. Metro construction costs a huge amount of money, and it is, therefore, worthwhile to consider if the decisions related to and direction of metro construction are justified. Adopting a historical perspective, this paper selects nine global cities that constructed metro systems prior to 1913. It considers the economic and social background at their time of opening and summarizes the optimal conditions for their opening. It compares and analyzes the location, form and length of the lines in the first year, and, taking Berlin, London, New York and Paris as examples, looks into the relationship between the urban land and the expansion of the metro network. This provides insights into the key characteristics of early line networks that will help other cities to reconsider the construction of their own metros and in the future, this will help to prevent blind development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: One challenge to healthy nutrition, especially among low-income individuals, is access to and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. To address this problem, Veggie Rx, a healthy food incentive programme, was established within a community clinic to increase access to fresh produce for low-income patients diagnosed with obesity, hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes. The current research aimed to evaluate Veggie Rx programme effectiveness.Design: A retrospective pre/post design using medical records and programme data was used to evaluate the programme. The study was approved by the University of Albany Institutional Review Board and the Patient Interest Committee of a community clinic.Setting: The study was conducted in a low-income, urban neighbourhood in upstate New York.Subjects: Medical record data and Veggie Rx programme data were analysed for fifty-four eligible participants. An equal-sized control group of patients who were not programme participants were matched on age, ethnicity and co-morbidity status.Results: A statistically significant difference in mean BMI change (P=0·02) between the intervention and the control group was calculated. The intervention group had a mean decrease in BMI of 0·74 kg/m2.Conclusions: Greater improvement in BMI was found among Veggie Rx programme participants. This information will guide programme changes and inform the field on the effectiveness of healthy food incentive programmes for improving health outcomes for low-income populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the knowledge, attitudes, and perceived facilitators and barriers to adoption of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among black women and Latinas in the Bronx, NY. Data were collected in focus group discussions (FGDs) held separately with staff (n = 21) and black and Latina female clients aged 18 to 50 (n = 23) of four organizations providing health and social services. Participants were also asked to give feedback about four action messages regarding PrEP for a social marketing campaign. Transcripts were analyzed by two researchers using grounded theory. We found that the majority of clients (74%) and staff (57%) had not heard about PrEP before participating in the FGDs. Following brief educational messaging about PrEP, participants identified potential facilitators and barriers to PrEP uptake among women, and expressed enthusiasm for more widespread efforts to raise awareness about PrEP as an HIV prevention option. Participants preferred an action message that was brief, referred to PrEP as a pill, and did not mention condoms or STD testing. These findings demonstrate the need to raise awareness about PrEP among women and build the capacity of women-serving organizations to educate, screen, and refer or provide PrEP services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research on health information has primarily focused on the needs of adults or parents of children with chronic illnesses or consumers. There is limited research on the health information needs of adolescents and in particular those from underserved communities. The primary objective of this qualitative study was to understand the health information needs of healthy, urban adolescents, and how they met those needs. Focus group methodology was used to gather information from a sample of ethnically diverse urban adolescents. Data was analyzed using Kriekelas' information seeking behavior framework to, examine the participants'' report of their immediate and deferred health information needs. Our sample of adolescents used several different sources to satisfy their health information needs depending on acuity and severity, which was congruent with Kriekelas' framework. Understanding how adolescents use technology to meet their health information needs, and in what order of preference, will be critical for the development of technology that adolescents find useful and has the potential to decrease health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religiosity is a protective factor against illicit drug use, but further investigation is needed to delineate which components of religiosity are protective against use. A racially diverse sample ( N = 962) was surveyed about religiosity, exposure to users, and recent use of marijuana, powder cocaine, ecstasy, and nonmedical use of opioids and amphetamine. Results suggest that identifying as Agnostic increased odds of use for each of the five drugs; however, this effect disappeared when controlling for religious importance and attendance. High levels of religious attendance were protective against recent use of marijuana and cocaine, but protective effects diminished when controlling for exposure to users, which was a robust predictor of use of every drug. Religion is a protective mechanism against drug use, but this effect may diminish in light of exposure to users. Alternative preventative methods need to be directed toward individuals who are not religious or are highly exposed to users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the important social issues affecting the people in South Bronx area in New York City since the 1950s. Topics covered include the ruins in the area that molded the values of people in the area, the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway and fire incidents that occur in the 1970s. Also mentioned are protests launched to address the challenges faced by immigrant neighborhoods in the area, destruction of the ruins as well as the development of infrastructure in the ruins.

Latino older adults in the United States have disproportionately high rates of chronic and disabling medical conditions. Puerto Ricans have a higher prevalence of several chronic medical conditions and higher rates of functional disability than other Latinos. Earlier studies have documented that Puerto Rican older adults traditionally have relied mostly on family members for assistance with their functional needs, with low use of formal support services, but little is known about their functional help needs and caregiving practices. This study examined independent living and caregiving practices of community-dwelling Puerto Rican older adults in western New York using a mixed-methods approach with a sample of 49 individuals attending an inner-city primary care clinic. Standard instruments were used to obtain information on socioeconomic and health status and functional ability. Forty participants who needed help with any instrumental activities of daily living ( IADLs) were probed qualitatively for how their needs were addressed. Participants averaged six chronic medical conditions, mean age was 76.2 ± 5.3, most reported annual household income of $15,000 or less and had low fluency in English, and all had healthcare insurance. For the most part, participants' children and spouses were primary caregivers, and few used formal support services. Nearly one-third reported having insufficient help. Qualitative findings elucidated how IADL needs were addressed. In this sample of indigent Puerto Rican older adults, most needed help with IADLs. Although family members most often helped, one-third had unmet or undermet needs. Linguistically and culturally congruent formal support services are still needed for Puerto Rican older adults and their family caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and postpartum depression (PPD) is limited. Numerous antecedents and consequences of both IPV and PPD are noted in the literature; however, understanding the mechanisms by which intimate partner violence impacts the postpartum mood are not clearly understood. This study utilized retrospective chart reviews from a pediatric/perinatal social work outreach program to explore urban minority women experiences with IPV and depression both during pregnancy and after. Findings do not suggest a direct relationship between IPV and PPD; however, there was a high co-occurrence of prenatal depression and PPD. The severity of IPV appears to influence the occurrence and acuity of prenatal depression suggesting an indirect relationship. Implications for health and social work practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrimination can influence risk of disease by promoting unhealthy behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol use). Whether it influences the formation of high-risk social ties that facilitate HIV transmission is unclear. Using cross-sectional data from a cohort of illicit drug users, this study examined the association between discrimination based on race, drug use and prior incarceration and risky sex and drug ties. Negative binomial regression models were performed. Participants who reported discrimination based on race and drug use had significantly more sex and drug-using ties. But, after accounting for both racial and drug use discrimination, only racial discrimination was associated with increased sex, drug-using, and injecting ties. Drug users who experience discrimination and subsequently develop more sex and drug-using ties, increase their risk of contracting HIV. Future longitudinal studies illuminating the pathways linking discrimination and social network development may guide intervention development and identify drug-using subpopulations at high risk for disease transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-income households in the contemporary city often lack adequate access to healthy foods, like fresh produce, due to a variety of social and spatial barriers that result in neighborhoods being underserved by full-service supermarkets. Because of this, residents commonly resort to purchasing food at fast food restaurants or convenience stores with poor selections of produce. Research has shown that maintaining a healthy diet contributes to disease prevention and overall quality of life. This research seeks to increase low-income residents' access to healthy foods by addressing spatial constraints through the characterization of a mobile market distribution system model that serves in-need neighborhoods. The model optimally locates mobile markets based on the geographic distribution of these residents. Using data from the medium-sized city of Buffalo, New York, results show that, with relatively few resources, the model increases these residents' access to healthy foods, helping to create a healthier city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Identification and characterization of asthma phenotypes are challenging due to disease complexity and heterogeneity. The Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) used unsupervised cluster analysis to define 5 phenotypically distinct asthma clusters that they replicated using 3 variables in a simplified algorithm. We evaluated whether this simplified SARP algorithm could be used in a separate and diverse urban asthma population to recreate these 5 phenotypic clusters. Methods: The SARP simplified algorithm was applied to adults with asthma recruited to the New York University/Bellevue Asthma Registry (NYUBAR) to classify patients into five groups. The clinical phenotypes were summarized and compared. Results: Asthma subjects in NYUBAR (n = 471) were predominantly women (70%) and Hispanic (57%), which were demographically different from the SARP population. The clinical phenotypes of the five groups generated by the simplified SARP algorithm were distinct across groups and distributed similarly to those described for the SARP population. Groups 1 and 2 (6 and 63%, respectively) had predominantly childhood onset atopic asthma. Groups 4 and 5 (20%) were older, with the longest duration of asthma, increased symptoms and exacerbations. Group 4 subjects were the most atopic and had the highest peripheral eosinophils. Group 3 (10%) had the least atopy, but included older obese women with adult-onset asthma, and increased exacerbations. Conclusions: Application of the simplified SARP algorithm to the NYUBAR yielded groups that were phenotypically distinct and useful to characterize disease heterogeneity. Differences across NYUBAR groups support phenotypic variation and support the use of the simplified SARP algorithm for classification of asthma phenotypes in future prospective studies to investigate treatment and outcome differences between these distinct groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing disparities are evident in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. We sought to assess preferred sources of colonoscopy screening information among Hispanics in East Harlem, NY. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among average-risk for CRC, non-symptomatic Hispanics in community-based sites and health clinics. SPSS 16 analysis explored the relationships between sociodemographic and health care variables and preferred sources of colonoscopy information for 395 participants. The top four preferred information sources were doctor/provider, brochures, television, and from someone who speaks the same language. We found significant differences in preferred information sources by a Chi-Square analysis of age (50-64 years; 65 or older), education (0-8th grade; 9th or above), language preferred (English; Spanish), and origin (US-born; foreign-born). Using the identified preferences for sources of information among this growing segment of the US population could inform interventions to address the important public health issue of CRC disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how Frederick Law Olmsted’s parks, especially Prospect Park in Brooklyn, can be thought of as spatial technologies that mediate between individuals and their urban environment to foster an open, creative, and democratic relationship with the differences of their fellow city dwellers. The park accomplishes this spatially by encouraging citizens to journey through distinct geographies that enable associational styles Olmsted calls the “neighborly” and the “gregarious.” Through alternating between environments conducive to intimate, reassuring neighborly groupings and exciting, superficial, gregarious interaction, the park user encounters others within distinct spatial and temporal qualities that allow them to appreciate otherness without being overwhelmed by it. The spatial techniques derived from Olmsted’s work challenge accounts in political theory and urban planning that contend free movement through cities encourages tolerance and fluid identities and instead contends that structured, mediating spatial structures might be necessary to facilitate the cultivation of such characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although many low-income urban areas are highly walkable by conventional measures such as population density or land use mix, chronic diseases related to lack of physical activity are more common among residents of these areas. Disparities in neighborhood conditions may make poor areas less attractive environments for walking, offsetting the advantages of density and land use mix. This study compared poor and nonpoor neighborhoods in New York City, using geographic information systems measures constructed from public data for US census tracts within New York City (N=2,172) as well as field observation of a matched-pair sample of 76 block faces on commercial streets in poor and nonpoor neighborhoods. Poor census tracts had significantly fewer street trees, landmarked buildings, clean streets, and sidewalk cafes, and higher rates of felony complaints, narcotics arrests, and vehicular crashes. The field observation showed similar results. Improving aesthetic and safety conditions in poor neighborhoods may help reduce disparities in physical activity among urban residents.Journal of Public Health Policy (2009) 30, S264–S285. doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.47 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microbial exposures have been suggested to confer protection from allergic disorders and reduced exposures to gastrointestinal microbiota have been proposed as an explanation for the increase in asthma prevalence. Since the general prevalence of Helicobacter pylori has been decreasing, we hypothesized that H. pylori serostatus would be inversely related to the presence of asthma. Methods: Adults were recruited to participate in the New York University (NYU)/Bellevue Asthma Registry in New York City. Adult asthma cases (N = 318) and controls (N = 208) were identified and serum IgG antibodies to H. pylori whole cell antigens or the immunodominant CagA antigen were measured. Results: As expected, the asthma cases and controls differed with respect to atopy and lung function. Seropositivity to H. pylori or CagA antigen was present in 47.1% of the total case and control study population. Asthma was inversely associated with CagA seropositivity (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.36-0.89). Median age of onset of asthma (doctor's diagnosis) was older (21 years) among individuals with CagA+ strains than among H. pylori- individuals (11 years) (p = 0.006). Conclusion: These data are consistent with the hypothesis that colonization with CagA+ H. pylori strains is inversely associated with asthma and is associated with an older age of asthma onset in an urban population. The data suggest H. pylori as a marker for protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rates of blood pressure (BP) control are lower in minority populations compared to whites.Objective: As part of a project to decrease health-related disparities among ethnic groups, we sought to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and management practices of clinicians caring for hypertensive patients in a predominantly minority community.Design/participants: We developed clinical vignettes of hypertensive patients that varied by comorbidity (type II diabetes mellitus, chronic renal insufficiency, coronary artery disease, or isolated systolic hypertension alone). We randomly assigned patient characteristics, e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, to each vignette. We surveyed clinicians in ambulatory clinics of the 4 hospitals in East/Central Harlem, NY.Measurements: The analysis used national guidelines to assess the appropriateness of clinicians' stated target BP levels. We also assessed clinicians' attitudes about the likelihood of each patient to achieve adequate BP control, adhere to medications, and return for follow-up.Results: Clinicians' target BPs were within 2 mm Hg of the recommendations 9% of the time for renal disease patients, 86% for diabetes, 94% for isolated systolic hypertension, and 99% for coronary disease. BP targets did not vary by patient or clinician characteristics. Clinicians rated African-American patients 8.4% (p = .004) less likely and non-English speaking Hispanic patients 8.1% (p = .051) less likely than white patients to achieve/maintain BP control.Conclusions: Clinicians demonstrated adequate knowledge of recommended BP targets, except for patients with renal disease. Clinicians did not vary management by patients' sociodemographics but thought African-American, non-English-speaking Hispanic and unemployed patients were less likely to achieve BP control than their white counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a profile of the population in New York City, New York. Expatriate formation in the city; Characteristics of the city residents; Change in race composition; Sex, age and social structure of the population; Educational and occupational structure of the population; Industry composition of the city employment.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the barriers to tight control of diabetes mellitus. The study collected data from multiple sources at a primary health care clinic in an academic teaching hospital serving an urban population, including patients' charts, structured interviews with patients, a survey of physicians' general perspectives and beliefs concerning diabetes mellitus, and a physician's structured review of barriers to tight control for individual patients. One hundred thirty-five patients with scheduled appointments were eligible for the study, of whom 94% had had a recent hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C). Seventy-seven of 88 patients (88%) who presented for their appointments consented to the interview, 48 of 50 providers (96%) returned useable surveys, and providers completed individual assessments for 96 patients (71%). Patients had a mean age of 61 years, an average of 7.60 diagnoses, and an average of 8.96 prescriptions. Their diabetes control was less than ideal, with less than 15% having normal or near normal control and almost a quarter having poor control. Correlations of HbA1C with age and show rate were seen. Physicians' assessments showed that motivation and understanding of diabetes and compliance with diet and medications correlated with diabetes control. Neither patient knowledge nor physician knowledge appeared to be a problem, nor did either correlate with diabetes control. The number of barriers to control were many, with over half of the patients having five or more barriers. Tight control of blood glucose is felt to be an important aspect of quality care for diabetic patients. In this study, a representative sample of diabetic patients had less than ideal diabetes control. This population was receiving their care in an urban setting and had many comorbid illnesses and many barriers to control. Age, motivation, understanding of the disease, show rate, and compliance with diet and medications had statistical correlations with diabetes control. In order to improve the quality of care for diabetic patients, barriers to care must be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the patterns and predictors of housing turnovers among non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Puerto Ricans, and other Hispanics in New York City during 1978-1987 to assess whether access to housing is distributed differentially by race and ethnicity. The data are taken from the triennial New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey. After controlling for household preferences, purchasing power, and quality characteristics of the housing unit, multinomial logistic regression results show the most consistent and significant predictors of turnover to be geographic and market-sector attributes. The findings suggest the presence of structural constraints in the housing market which effectively channel racial/ethnic groups to separate neighborhoods. The overall results are reminiscent of early studies of neighborhood transition by Duncan and Duncan (1957) and Taeuber and Taeuber (1965), and show that little progress has been made toward achieving equality in housing or informal social contact between racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three approaches to explaining and predicting neighborhood satisfaction are compared in a survey of 550 New York City residents. The models are: a belief-affect approach which proposes that evaluations of specific aspects of a community are combined to yield overall satisfaction ratings; a commitment approach, which looks at the impact of emotional and economic ties to the neighborhood; and an availability approach, which emphasizes the impact of salient beliefs about the community on satisfaction. Some support is found for all three models, though it is suggested that the availability approach may provide the most useful and compelling model for explaining the psychological processes involved in evaluating one's neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most prominent research investigations of leadership relations currently making scientific progress appear to be sociometric studies. But despite their contributions, sociometric studies seem to be seriously hampered, in terms of integrating diverse patterns of leadership, by an inadequate theoretical orientation. The adequacy of this orientation stems primarily from the inability of "socio-criteria" to comprise a system of related leadership categories but also from the proponents' questionable claims that: leadership is based on harmonious group support; the correct research method to determine leadership is to proceed by means of "respondent authorship" through the "reality test"; and leadership positions should be determined only by sociogram inspection which not only becomes progressively more difficult as the size and scope of the community increases, but also denies the validity of qualitative treatments. To develop an alternative research treatment which would eliminate the limitations of the sociometric approach and provide a possible basis for a more generalized theory of leadership relations, a New York rural community, comprising about 4,000 residents, was studied in 1946-1947.

An obituary for public health official and former editor of the "American Journal of Public Health" Alfred Yankauer is presented.