Primary Submission Category: Health equity
School-level socioeconomic and racial polarization: Associations with socioemotional and nutritional well-being in adolescence
Authors: Hannah Cory Vivienne Hazzard Jaime Slaughter-Acey Marla Eisenberg Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
Presenting Author: Hannah Cory*
Inequitable school environments are known to impact young people’s health outcomes, but what role school-level social polarization plays is unknown. This study examines school-level socioeconomic and racial polarization, using the index of concentrations at the extremes (ICE), in relation to socioemotional and nutritional well-being in adolescence.
In Eating and Activity over Time (EAT) 2010, 20 secondary schools in the Twin Cities metro area reported on school lunch eligibility and race/ethnicity of their students. We calculate two school-level ICE measures based on the distribution of white and Black students and the distribution of full price vs. free lunch for students. Measures of nutritional (dietary quality, restrictive weight-control behaviors [WCBs], compensatory WCBs, binge eating) and socioemotional well-being (body satisfaction, depressive symptoms, self-esteem) were self-reported by students. Generalized estimating equations assessed cross-sectional associations of school-level ICE measures with socioemotional and nutritional well-being, controlling for student age and gender. Linear and quadratic ICE terms were examined in the models.
Most schools in this study had negative ICE values—indicating greater concentrations of deprivation—based on race (M=-0.23, SD=0.30) and school-lunch eligibility (M=-0.51, SD=0.33). The school-lunch eligibility ICE measure largely exhibited linear associations, with lower ICE values associated with less favorable outcomes (e.g., higher prevalence of restrictive WCBs, lower self-esteem). ICE based on race generally exhibited quadratic associations, with ICE values near zero (i.e. balanced racial/ethnic composition) associated with the least favorable outcomes (e.g., higher prevalence of binge eating, lower self-esteem).
Our findings suggest school-level social polarization is associated with young people’s nutritional and socioemotional well-being with distinct patterning by socioeconomic and racial/ethnic composition.