The characteristics of residential environments that may affect health are posited to contribute to social and race/ethnic inequities in health through the differential allocation of health-promoting resources and health-harming conditions that stem from macro-level processes that systematically sort large groups of the American population into different neighborhoods. However, few studies have examined how exposure to these neighborhood conditions is inequitably experienced by individuals over adulthood. Longitudinal studies are well positioned to contribute to our understanding of the accumulation of neighborhood (dis)advantages and their impact on health throughout the life course but must first overcome the challenge of measuring differences in neighborhood context across time and between population groups. Using a longitudinal cohort of Black and white U.S. adults followed over a 25-year period with linked census tract data, we computed a Neighborhood Vulnerability Index (NVI) that combines multiple indicators of neighborhood risk into one composite score and tested the assumption of configural, metric, and scalar invariance both longitudinally and between race/gender groups. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we identified a two-dimensional model for neighborhood vulnerability and computed an index that demonstrated multiple levels of race, gender, and race-by-gender invariance (χ² 1000.48, df 15, RMSEA 0.07, SRMR 0.02, CFI 0.98, TLI 0.97, AIC 751,272). Inequities in exposure to neighborhood vulnerability between Black and white men and women at the neighborhood level has important implications for understanding the root of social, health, and economic disparities that have persisted in the U.S. over the past several decades.

可能影响健康的居住环境的特征被假定通过健康促进资源和健康危害条件的差异分配来促进健康方面的社会和种族/民族不平等，这些条件源自宏观层面的过程，系统地对大量人群进行分类。美国人口进入不同的社区。然而，很少有研究调查个人在成年后如何不公平地经历这些邻里条件。纵向研究有助于我们理解邻里（不利）优势的积累及其对整个生命过程中健康的影响，但必须首先克服衡量不同时间和人口群体之间邻里环境差异的挑战。使用对美国黑人和白人成年人的纵向队列追踪超过 25 年的关联人口普查数据，我们计算了一个邻里脆弱性指数 (NVI)，该指数将邻里风险的多个指标组合成一个综合评分，并测试了配置、纵向和种族/性别组之间的度量和标量不变性。使用验证性因素分析，我们确定了邻里脆弱性的二维模型，并计算了一个指数，该指数展示了种族、性别和不同种族的多层次不变性。纵向和种族/性别组之间的标量不变性。使用验证性因素分析，我们确定了邻里脆弱性的二维模型，并计算了一个指数，该指数展示了种族、性别和不同种族的多层次不变性。纵向和种族/性别组之间的标量不变性。使用验证性因素分析，我们确定了邻里脆弱性的二维模型，并计算了一个指数，该指数展示了种族、性别和不同种族的多层次不变性。χ ² 1000.48，df 15，RMSEA 0.07，SRMR 0.02，CFI 0.98，TLI 0.97，AIC 751,272）。黑人和白人男性和女性在邻里层面面临邻里脆弱性的不平等对于理解过去几十年在美国持续存在的社会、健康和经济差异的根源具有重要意义。