PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - McClure, Elizabeth
AU  - Feinstein, Lydia
AU  - Ferrando-Martínez, Sara
AU  - Leal, Manuel
AU  - Galea, Sandro
AU  - Aiello, Allison E.
TI  - The Great Recession and Immune Function
AID  - 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.4.04
DP  - 2018 Apr 01
TA  - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
PG  - 62--81
VI  - 4
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/62.short
4100  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/62.full
AB  - The Great Recession precipitated unprecedented home foreclosures increases, but documentation of related neighborhood changes and population health is scant. Using the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (N = 277), we examined associations between neighborhood-level recession indicators and thymic function, a life course immunological health indicator. In covariate-adjusted multilevel models, each 10 percentage point increase in abandoned home prevalence and 1 percentage point increase in 2009 home foreclosures was associated with 1.7-year and 3.3-year increases in thymic aging, respectively. Associations attenuated after adjustment for neighborhood-level social cohesion, suggesting community ties may buffer recession-related immune aging. Effects of neighborhood stressors were strongest in middle-income households, supporting theory of excess vulnerability in this group. Future research should assess whether ongoing foreclosure and blight reduction efforts improve health for residents of recession impacted neighborhoods.