The Asian American population is the fastest growing minority population in the US. Mental health status in Asian Americans is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of physical health outcomes, but it is understudied in Asian Americans, who are also less likely to seek treatment for mental health problems. Ethnic enclave residence is thought to be protective by providing greater social support and reducing social isolation, but evidence for this is limited and inconsistent, and few studies have focused on Asian immigrants. Our objective was to examine whether Chinese immigrants in areas of higher ethnic density report greater social support and less social isolation. Our analysis included 640 men and women recruited 1/16-5/19 through community organizations and contacts throughout the Philadelphia region. Residences were geocoded and linked to American Community Survey data from 2013-2017. Ethnic density was operationalized as percent of Census tract residents who were Chinese and categorized into quintiles. Social support was assessed using the Provisions of Social Relations scale, which captures support from family and friends, and low social support was defined as a score in the lowest quintile. Social isolation was assessed using a 17-item scale measuring social disconnectedness and perceived isolation, and high social isolation was defined as a score in the highest quintile. We ran logistic regression models using Generalized Estimating Equations to account for clustering within Census tracts, adjusting for age, sex, and at the Census tract level, median household income and percent of adults in poverty. We found that participants in the highest vs. lowest quintile of ethnic density (mean 12.6% vs. <1% Chinese in Census tract) were less likely to report low social support (odds ratio (OR) 0.40 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.21, 0.75, trend p=0.02), and also less likely to report high social isolation (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.17, 0.92, trend p=0.056). Despite suggestive trend p-values, however, ORs did not decrease in a dose-dependent manner. Our findings support the possibility that ethnic enclaves provide social resources that may protect against mental or even physical health problems. Lack of dose-dependence, however, indicates that the association is more complex and merits further exploration.

Citation Format: Marilyn Tseng, Emily Walton, Carolyn Fang. Association of ethnic density with social support and social isolation among Chinese immigrants in Philadelphia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr C066.

©2020 American Association for Cancer Research.
2020
American Association for Cancer Research.