Examining the Role of Neighborhood-Level Foreclosure in Smoking and Alcohol Use Among Older Adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The US Great Recession resulted in an alarming number of home foreclosures that weakened the social and physical environment of thousands of neighborhoods. Few studies have evaluated whether these neighborhood changes were related to changes in individual behaviors. We examined the relationship between changes in neighborhood-level home foreclosure within a quarter-mile (0.4-km) buffer of the residence and changes in cigarette smoking and alcohol use among 3,807 adults enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis during 2005–2012, using econometric individual-level fixed-effects models. Increases in neighborhood-level foreclosure were associated with small decreases in the number of cigarettes smoked per day (mean difference = −0.08, 95% confidence interval: −0.11, −0.04) and small increases in the number of alcoholic beverages consumed per week (mean difference = 0.11, 95% confidence interval: 0.05, 0.17). Neighborhood-level foreclosure may not uniformly influence high-risk behaviors. The impact of home foreclosure on adult drinking should be further explored, given its potentially negative implications for health.