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4th Edition: Social Determinants of Health

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 164

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Program for Research on Men's Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Interests: minority aging; stress and biopsychosocial pathways influencing age-related outcomes among black men over the life course; black–white disparities in age-related outcomes among men in middle to late life; social determinants of age-related outcomes among black and white men
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Guest Editor
The Collaboratories at UH Population Health, UH Population Health, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Interests: social and behavioral science; population health science; minority aging; men’s health; religiosity; spirituality; axes of stratification; biopsychosocial pathways influencing physical and cognitive functioning over the life course and across generations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA
2. Johns Hopkins University Program for Research on Men's Health, Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Interests: public health social work clinical practice and training; prevention and treatment of mental and physical health outcomes among persons exposed to chronic stressors—especially those in the criminal justice system; impact of social determinants of health on stress-related health disparities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past three years, we successfully launched the first, second, and third editions of this Special Issue, each of which garnered strong engagement and enthusiastic participation from a diverse group of scholars. Given the continued urgency and relevance of this topic, we are pleased to announce the fourth edition of this Special Issue to further advance this critical area of inquiry.

Despite decades of research and intervention, there has been modest progress toward eliminating health disparities to achieve health equity. Disparities in health outcomes across various populations are well-documented; however, root causes are insufficiently understood. Evidence increasingly points to the significant influence of the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age—commonly referred to as social determinants of health—on health outcomes. These conditions have emerged as important contributors to the persistence of health disparities in the past decade. However, there remains a need for deeper investigations into how these factors operate to shape the health of marginalized populations.

We invite researchers to submit original empirical studies, theoretical papers, and systematic reviews that deepen our understanding of the cultural, economic, political, and social drivers of health disparities—including strategies to mitigate them.

We welcome submissions employing qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches, including studies that address the design, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral or policy interventions.

This Special Issue focuses on the role of social determinants in generating, maintaining, or reducing health disparities.

Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to

  • Theoretical or empirical papers that explore and test models linking social determinants, the health of marginalized populations, and health disparities;
  • Studies that employ an intersectional lens (e.g., race, gender, or social class) to examine how multiple forms of inequality shape health outcomes;
  • Research exploring how social determinants at the individual (e.g., discrimination), place-based (e.g., urbanicity), or community (e.g., segregation) levels influence health disparities;
  • Epidemiological studies that explicitly examine associations between social determinants and health outcomes among marginalized populations;
  • Intervention studies that evaluate how social determinants influence health or contribute to the reduction in health disparities.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and continuing this important scholarly conversation.

Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr.
Dr. Marino A. Bruce
Dr. Paul Archibald
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social determinants
  • health disparities
  • race, gender, and social inequalities
  • health equity, discrimination
  • urban and rural environment community factors
  • structural racism

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

30 pages, 1666 KB  
Article
Food Swamps and Transportation Access: Intersecting Structural Determinants of Food Shopping and Access in Marginalized Urban Communities
by Summaya Abdul Razak, Abiodun T. Atoloye, Curtis Jalen Antrum, Kritee Niroula, Richard Bannor, Snehaa Ray, Emil Coman, Tania Huedo-Medina, Valerie B. Duffy and Kristen Cooksey Stowers
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(10), 1481; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22101481 - 25 Sep 2025
Abstract
The study examined the relationship between food swamps and self-reported food shopping frequency and perceived food access, while considering transportation mode and travel time. This Community-Based Participatory Research study surveyed residents from six neighborhoods in Hartford. Individual-level food swamp exposure (the ratio of [...] Read more.
The study examined the relationship between food swamps and self-reported food shopping frequency and perceived food access, while considering transportation mode and travel time. This Community-Based Participatory Research study surveyed residents from six neighborhoods in Hartford. Individual-level food swamp exposure (the ratio of unhealthy to healthy food stores within a 0.5-mile radius of participants’ homes) was measured both objectively (using GIS-based methods) and subjectively (through self-reporting). Poisson regression models assessed the associations between food swamps and outcomes (shopping frequency by store types and perceived access to food), with transportation mode and travel time as moderators. Of 304 participants, 51% lived in subjective (n = 153) and 71% in objective (n = 198) food swamps. Food swamp exposure was associated with greater shopping frequency at unhealthy outlets (β = 0.12, p < 0.001), less access to healthier food (β = −0.13, p < 0.001), and increased access to unhealthy food (β = 0.08, p < 0.001). Transportation significantly moderates these relationships; bus riders reported the highest rates of unhealthy food purchasing (β = 0.17, p < 0.001). Longer travel times increased both healthy and unhealthy food access (β = 0.01, p < 0.001 for each). Food swamps interact with public transportation to contribute to food shopping and access, underscoring the need for integrated food and transportation policies to address structural barriers and promote health equity in underserved urban communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 4th Edition: Social Determinants of Health)
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