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- The Healthy Start area population is heavily female, particularly among African Americans. In 2008, there were 79.7 African American males ages 15-44 per 100 females; the Latino ratio is 86.0 males per 100 females. This disproportion has implications for the sexual behavior of African American women whose potential partners are severely constrained.
- Family composition has implications for stress, social support, and financial resources. From 2000 to 2008, nearly 16% of households in the Healthy Start area were composed of single females with children, compared to 5% in suburban Monroe County. From 2005 to 2007, fewer than 30% of Healthy Start birth mothers were married at the time of their children’s births, compared to nearly 80% of suburban Monroe County birth mothers.
- There is a well-documented linear correlation between socioeconomic status and health status across the life span. Within Monroe County, poverty is concentrated in the Healthy Start area and the city as a whole. In 2008, one in five families in the Healthy Start area lived below the poverty level compared to 3% in the suburbs. Over two-thirds of female-headed households with children in this area were below the poverty line.
- Access to health care is tied to ability to access health insurance. In 2005, nearly 11% of individuals of all income levels and 7% of those living at or below the 250% federal poverty level in Monroe County lacked health insurance. The percent lacking health insurance was higher among female residents ages 18 – 64 of all income levels than for males.
- As noted above, educational attainment is correlated with birth outcomes; it is also correlated with health more generally. Over 30% of women with less than a high school degree reported being in fair or poor health, a proportion three times greater than women with a high school degree or some college and 15 times greater than women with a college degree. From 2005 to 2007, over 60% of births in the Healthy Start area were to women with a high school diploma or less; in suburban Monroe County, 50% of births were to women with some college or higher education. Educational attainment for all racial/ethnic groups is less for those residing in the city than for those residing in the suburbs.
- African American/non-Latino women and Latinas and city residents and Healthy Start ZIP Code residents were significantly more likely to report a functional limitation due to physical health than were White/non-Latino women and suburban and non-Healthy Start ZIP Code residents. The limitation most often identified was “accomplished less than they would have liked at work or daily activities because of physical health all or most of the time in the past four weeks.” Women with less than a high school degree were significantly more likely than other women to report every type of limitation.
- Violence contributes to stress and constrains the ability of residents to access the potentially healthful resources of their neighborhoods. The 2006 violent crime rate of the city of Rochester exceeded that of the U.S. as a whole for murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. Violent crime rate data for 2007 for the city of Rochester indicates a geographic concentration of violent crime in the Healthy Start neighborhoods.
- The prevalence of violence has a corollary in the incarceration rates, which contribute to social instability. In 2008, approximately 90% of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department inmates and 96% of the NYS Department of Correctional Services inmates were male. Inmates are also disproportionately African American – roughly 2 to 1 in the jail population and nearly 4 to 1 in the state prison population. Although men who are incarcerated are less likely to be married than their peers, they are just as likely as other men to have children. Their social and sexual behaviors, both while incarcerated and when released, impact the health of the women and children in their lives.
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