Race/Ethnicity and Loneliness: The Impact of Neighborhood Social Infrastructure and Cohesion in Chicago

Loneliness, a subjective sense of social isolation, is associated with a 26% increased risk of premature mortality. Neighborhoods are a social determinant of health and have a major effect on health and well-being. This dissertation investigates the relationship between the neighborhood social environment and loneliness and how the relationship differs across racial and ethnic groups. Non-Latinx Black, Latinx, and non-Latinx White adults that participated in the Sinai Community Health Survey 2.0, an area probability survey conducted in ten Chicago neighborhoods, were included in the study (N=1,300). Multiple linear regression analyses revealed a statistically significant relationships between perceived loneliness and perceived neighborhood cohesions. Race/ethnicity moderated the relationship; the effect of the relationship was strongest for Latinx participants. To assess the influence of neighborhood spaces that facilitate social engagement, an objective measure of social infrastructure was developed, using public data from the Chicago Data Portal and the National Center for Charitable Statistics. A fully adjusted multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that the relationships between social infrastructure and loneliness was not significant and race/ethnicity did not moderate the relationship. Through a mediated moderation analysis, neighborhood social cohesion was found to completely mediate the relationship between social infrastructure and loneliness for Latinx participants. For non-Latinx Blacks a significant direct effect from social infrastructure to loneliness was found. Neither the mediated nor direct path was significant for non-Latinx Whites. This study demonstrates that the perceived and objective neighborhood social environment are important in protecting against the detrimental effects of loneliness among minority groups.