Racial residential segregation, social networks, and self-rated health among Black Americans: the moderating roles of social leverage, social bridging, and social bonding ties

Abstract Racial residential segregation has long been recognized as a powerful determinant of health, especially for Black Americans. Despite this, various social factors that may attenuate the negative health effects of segregation are poorly understood. Drawing on U.S. census data and a stratified probability household survey of Indiana residents, I employ an egocentric (i.e., personal) network approach to examine the moderating roles of social leverage (operationalized by network members’ levels of educational attainment), social bridging (assessed by the presence of weak ties and structural holes), and social bonding (measured by strong, emotionally supportive kin ties) in the association between racial residential segregation and health among Black Americans. I found that Black respondents who resided in more racially segregated counties had worse self-rated health. However, the adverse association between segregation and self-rated health was substantially attenuated among Black respondents who had higher levels of social leverage and, to a lesser extent, social bridging in their core networks. Social bonding had no moderating impact. Moreover, supplemental analyses revealed that among White respondents, the association between racial residential segregation and self-rated health was null, regardless of levels of network-based resources. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for social theory and intervention.