TY - JOUR T1 - The Great Recession and Immune Function JF - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences SP - 62 LP - 81 DO - 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.4.04 VL - 4 IS - 4 AU - Elizabeth McClure AU - Lydia Feinstein AU - Sara Ferrando-Martínez AU - Manuel Leal AU - Sandro Galea AU - Allison E. Aiello Y1 - 2018/04/01 UR - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/62.abstract N2 - 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. ER -