Racial residential segregation shapes the relationship between early childhood lead exposure and fourth-grade standardized test scores

Mercedes A. Bravo, Dominique Zephyr, Daniel Kowal, Katherine Ensor and Marie Lynn Miranda
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Mercedes A. Bravo: a Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710;; b Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46556;
Dominique Zephyr: b Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46556;
Daniel Kowal: c Department of Statistics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005;
Katherine Ensor: c Department of Statistics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005;
Marie Lynn Miranda: b Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46556;; d Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46556

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022, vol. 119, issue 34, e2117868119

Abstract: Racial residential segregation (RRS) – defined here as the geographic separation of Black individuals and communities from other racial/ethnic groups into separate, unequal neighborhoods – fosters environments inimical to health through disinvestment of resources and concentration of disadvantages. Neighborhood environments influence children’s health and development, but relationships between RRS and cognitive development are poorly understood. We find that: (1) non-Hispanic Black children were more likely to experience multiple adverse exposures in early childhood, and (2) among non-Hispanic Black children, high levels of RRS augmented the detrimental effect of elevated blood levels on reading test scores. Non-linear models were used to model exposure to lead and RRS, and their interaction.

Keywords: racial residential segregation; cognitive outcomes; lead exposure; standardized test scores (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:119:y:2022:p:e2117868119

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