Applying Broken Windows Theory To Health

"The research team (which included researchers from the New Orleans area) created a 'broken windows index' to examine the possible association of neighborhood deterioration and high-risk sexual behavior and gonorrhea rates in 55 New Orleans neighborhoods. The index is a scale representing conditions in the neighborhood, and it accounts for such problems as trash, abandoned cars, graffiti, and homes and schools in poor repair. Researchers mapped all cases of gonorrhea between 1994 and 1996 and calculated the rate of disease by neighborhood “block group” (each block group consisted of several city blocks as designated by the U.S. Census). Using data from the 1990 U.S. Census and 1995 updates, they determined the relationship between gonorrhea rates, neighborhood deterioration, and poverty and other demographic characteristics.

The broken windows index was found to be a significant predictor of gonorrhea rates. Poor neighborhoods with high broken windows scores had significantly higher gonorrhea rates than did poor neighborhoods with low broken windows scores. Indeed, the level of neighborhood deterioration as measured by the broken windows index was a better predictor of neighborhood gonorrhea rates than were demographic characteristics as measured by a poverty index."

Thanks to RAND News Bulletin