Gentrification, Health, and Intermediate Pathways: How Distinct Inequality Mechanisms Impact Health Disparities

Abstract

Gentrification yields a variety of effects, yet the mechanisms linking gentrification to health are unclear. Although quantitative research has helped to identify some patterns, the processes whereby neighborhood dynamics impact health are layered and span multiple levels of health—individual, family, and community.

According to research describing large-scale drivers of health, inequality (e.g., income and social) is a significant risk factor for worse health, morbidity, and mortality. Drawing from an inequality-health framework, this paper explores how inequality created by gentrification (e.g., segregated pockets of wealth alongside relative deprivation) harms health and well-being. The current study presents findings from lower-income African American women across 20 U.S. cities, and examines pathways by which gentrification increases inequality and stress for residents living in gentrifying areas. Results indicate that gentrification contributes to both direct (e.g., material scarcity) and indirect (e.g., displacement, distrust, lack of belonging) pathways that impact health, supporting mediation via four major pathways. Implications for further research, theorization, and policy are discussed.

Keywords:

• Gentrification
• health disparities
• displacement
• mediation
• inequality

Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviews and members of the Critical Health + Social Ecology lab for feedback on previous versions of this paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

H. Shellae Versey

H. Shellae Versey is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Fordham University, and leads several projects exploring the intersection between neighborhoods, race/racism, and health. She also writes on housing and older adults.