Actual telephone prefixes were paired with four random digits to produce the phone numbers. This process insures that all necessary phone prefixes are included, and that unlisted numbers are part of the sampling frame. As is typical of most telephone surveys, results for the Community Initiatives telephone survey slightly over-represent women in all race and ethnic groups compared to their demographic representation in the community. To compensate, a weight variable was created using 1990 U.S. Census data for each sex by race and ethnic category. The random sampling process as well as the size of the sample combine to produce findings representative of the San Antonio adult population.
Results report attitudes and self-reported needs of respondents.
Figure 1 illustrates the clear relationship between self-reported excellent health and quality of neighborhood. The essential message is that better health is most likely to be found where people feel good about living in their neighborhoods, and least likely to be found where they dislike them. The most plausible explanation is that neighborhood quality of life is tied to individual health. There are many qualities that make neighborhoods good, including cohesiveness, history of organization and problem solving, sound infrastructure and recreational facilities, quality of housing, schools, etc. The indicators of good, sustainable communities are also indicators of good public health.