Neighborhood and Family Effects on Children’s Health in Los Angeles

Narayan Sastry, RAND

This paper explores the effects of neighborhood and family factors on child health in one of the largest urban areas in the United States, Los Angeles County. We use data from L.A.FANS, a new representative survey of neighborhoods and households in Los Angeles County, to examine the association of neighborhood and family characteristics with child health status, access to and use of health care services, and health-related behaviors. This paper seeks to answer several questions. First, how are family background factors such immigrant status, ethnicity, and social class related to child health outcomes? Second, are there neighborhood level differences in health outcomes by socioeconomic status, once individual differences are held constant? Third, what neighborhood-level characteristics appear to mediate the relationship between individual social characteristics and health outcomes?