Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies.
Early life exposures influence numerous social determinants of health, as distal causes or confounders of later health outcomes. Although a growing literature is documenting how early life socioeconomic position affects later life health, few epidemiologic studies have tested measures for operationa...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4405544?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818899567959080960 |
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| author | Theresa L Osypuk Rebecca Kehm Dawn P Misra |
| author_facet | Theresa L Osypuk Rebecca Kehm Dawn P Misra |
| author_sort | Theresa L Osypuk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Early life exposures influence numerous social determinants of health, as distal causes or confounders of later health outcomes. Although a growing literature is documenting how early life socioeconomic position affects later life health, few epidemiologic studies have tested measures for operationalizing early life neighborhood context, or examined their effects on later life health. In the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments (LIFE) Study, a retrospective cohort study among Black women in Southfield, Michigan (71% response rate), we tested the validity and reliability of retrospectively-reported survey-based subjective measures of early life neighborhood context(N=693). We compared 3 subjective childhood neighborhood measures (disorder, informal social control, victimization), with 3 objective childhood neighborhood measures derived from 4 decades of historical census tract data 1970-2000, linked through geocoded residential histories (tract % poverty, tract % black, tract deprivation score derived from principal components analysis), as well as with 2 subjective neighborhood measures in adulthood. Our results documented that internal consistency reliability was high for the subjective childhood neighborhood scales (Cronbach's α =0.89, 0.93). Comparison of subjective with objective childhood neighborhood measures found moderate associations in hypothesized directions. Associations with objective variables were strongest for neighborhood disorder (rhos=.40), as opposed to with social control or victimization. Associations between subjective neighborhood context in childhood versus adulthood were moderate and stronger for residentially-stable populations. We lastly formally tested for, but found little evidence of, recall bias of the retrospective subjective reports of childhood context. These results provide evidence that retrospective reports of subjective neighborhood context may be a cost-effective, valid, and reliable method to operationalize early life context for health studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:50:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7dbf4cfb1bac4bbdbb323eaa7872bfd7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:50:02Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-7dbf4cfb1bac4bbdbb323eaa7872bfd72022-12-21T20:08:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01104e012463510.1371/journal.pone.0124635Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies.Theresa L OsypukRebecca KehmDawn P MisraEarly life exposures influence numerous social determinants of health, as distal causes or confounders of later health outcomes. Although a growing literature is documenting how early life socioeconomic position affects later life health, few epidemiologic studies have tested measures for operationalizing early life neighborhood context, or examined their effects on later life health. In the Life-course Influences on Fetal Environments (LIFE) Study, a retrospective cohort study among Black women in Southfield, Michigan (71% response rate), we tested the validity and reliability of retrospectively-reported survey-based subjective measures of early life neighborhood context(N=693). We compared 3 subjective childhood neighborhood measures (disorder, informal social control, victimization), with 3 objective childhood neighborhood measures derived from 4 decades of historical census tract data 1970-2000, linked through geocoded residential histories (tract % poverty, tract % black, tract deprivation score derived from principal components analysis), as well as with 2 subjective neighborhood measures in adulthood. Our results documented that internal consistency reliability was high for the subjective childhood neighborhood scales (Cronbach's α =0.89, 0.93). Comparison of subjective with objective childhood neighborhood measures found moderate associations in hypothesized directions. Associations with objective variables were strongest for neighborhood disorder (rhos=.40), as opposed to with social control or victimization. Associations between subjective neighborhood context in childhood versus adulthood were moderate and stronger for residentially-stable populations. We lastly formally tested for, but found little evidence of, recall bias of the retrospective subjective reports of childhood context. These results provide evidence that retrospective reports of subjective neighborhood context may be a cost-effective, valid, and reliable method to operationalize early life context for health studies.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4405544?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Theresa L Osypuk Rebecca Kehm Dawn P Misra Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. PLoS ONE |
| title | Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. |
| title_full | Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. |
| title_fullStr | Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. |
| title_short | Where we used to live: validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies. |
| title_sort | where we used to live validating retrospective measures of childhood neighborhood context for life course epidemiologic studies |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4405544?pdf=render |
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