Evaluating nighttime observational measures of neighborhood disorder: Validity of the nighttime NIfETy assessment

While there are a growing number of observational instruments to assess the built and social dimensions of the neighborhood environment, there are few reliable and validated instruments; there are no instruments that assess the neighborhood environment during nighttime hours, a potential peak period of health and safety risk. The purpose of this investigation is to establish the metric properties of Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) Instrument nighttime ratings. Reliability of the scale was measured by internal consistency reliability and test re-test correlation. Validity was evaluated through correlation with the daytime NIfETy rating and regression models with local violent crime data. The nighttime items had good internal consistency (α = 0.81-0.82) for the total scale and acceptable internal consistency for a seven-item nighttime disorder scale (α = 0.66-0.71). Future investigations will examine the nighttime NIfETy and its association with specific risk behaviors to evaluate changes in neighborhood environment.