P* Segregation Indices: What Can They Tell Us about Housing Segregation in 1980?

Abstract

An alternative measure of segregation, the P* index, is explained. This measure is computed separately for each racial/ethnic group and, in a diadic situation, indicates each group's potential for neighborhood contact with the other. The usefulness of this index, as well as the different information it provides from that provided by other indices, is discussed. P* indices are computed for blacks and whites for the St Louis metropolitan area in 1970 and 1980. The results indicate that neither group experienced a sizable increase in residential contact with the other between 1970 and 1980. The significance of this finding in a context of increasing black suburbanization is discassed.