Racialized Structural Vulnerability: Neighborhood Racial Composition, Concentrated Disadvantage, and Fine Particulate...

This study contributes to previous research by advancing a "racialized structural vulnerability" framework and presenting a new empirical analysis of the relationship between neighborhood Asian, Black, and Latinx composition; extrinsic and intrinsic vulnerability; and PM_2.5 exposures in California with secondary data from 2004-2014. Principal component analyses revealed that tract Latinx composition was highly correlated with extrinsic vulnerability (economic disadvantage and limited English-speaking ability), and that tract Black composition was highly correlated with intrinsic vulnerability (elevated prevalence of asthma-related emergency department visits and low birth weight). Spatial lag regression models tested hypotheses regarding the association between Asian, Black, and Latinx population vulnerability factors and the 2009-2011 annual average PM_2.5 percentile rankings, net of emissions and spatial covariates. Results indicated that the percent Latinx population, followed by the regional clustering of PM_2.5, and the percent of non-Latinx Black and non-Latinx Asian population were the strongest positive multivariable correlates of PM_2.5 percentile rankings, net of other factors. Additional analyses suggested that despite shifting demographic and spatial correlates of 2012-2014 PM_2.5 exposures, the tracts' Black and Latinx composition and location in the San Joaquin Valley remain important vulnerability factors with implications for future research and policy.