TY - JOUR
T1 - Neighborhood-level cohesion and disorder
T2 - Measurement and validation in two older adult urban populations
AU - Cagney, Kathleen A.
AU - Glass, Thomas A.
AU - Skarupski, Kimberly A.
AU - Barnes, Lisa L.
AU - Schwartz, Brian S.
AU - Mendes De Leon, Carlos F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health: National Institute on Aging (AG11101 and AG19604) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES10902).
PY - 2009/5
Y1 - 2009/5
N2 - Objectives Drawing from collective efficacy and social disorganization theories, we developed and validated measures of neighborhood-level social processes.Methods Data came from 2 large, population-based cohort studies of urban-dwelling older adults, the Chicago Neighborhood and Disability Study (CNDS, n = 3,882) and the Baltimore Memory Study (BMS, n = 1,140). Data on neighborhood social processes were collected from residents using a standardized instrument identical in the 2 studies. We used confirmatory factor analysis and descriptive statistics to explore reliability and validity of the neighborhood-level measures.Results Confirmatory factor analysis indicated 2 latent factors: social cohesion and exchange (i.e., observations of and interactions with neighbors) and social and physical disorder (i.e., neighborhood problems and unsafe conditions). Neighborhood-level measures of cohesion and disorder showed moderate to high levels of internal consistency (alphas =.78 and.85 in CNDS and.60 and.88 in BMS). Inter-resident agreements were low (intra-neighborhood correlation coefficients =.08 and.11 in CNDS and.05 and.33 in BMS). Cohesion showed a modest, positive association with a composite measure of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). Disorder showed a strong, negative association with neighborhood SES.Conclusions Findings provide initial evidence of the reliability and construct validity of these neighborhood-level social process measures.
AB - Objectives Drawing from collective efficacy and social disorganization theories, we developed and validated measures of neighborhood-level social processes.Methods Data came from 2 large, population-based cohort studies of urban-dwelling older adults, the Chicago Neighborhood and Disability Study (CNDS, n = 3,882) and the Baltimore Memory Study (BMS, n = 1,140). Data on neighborhood social processes were collected from residents using a standardized instrument identical in the 2 studies. We used confirmatory factor analysis and descriptive statistics to explore reliability and validity of the neighborhood-level measures.Results Confirmatory factor analysis indicated 2 latent factors: social cohesion and exchange (i.e., observations of and interactions with neighbors) and social and physical disorder (i.e., neighborhood problems and unsafe conditions). Neighborhood-level measures of cohesion and disorder showed moderate to high levels of internal consistency (alphas =.78 and.85 in CNDS and.60 and.88 in BMS). Inter-resident agreements were low (intra-neighborhood correlation coefficients =.08 and.11 in CNDS and.05 and.33 in BMS). Cohesion showed a modest, positive association with a composite measure of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). Disorder showed a strong, negative association with neighborhood SES.Conclusions Findings provide initial evidence of the reliability and construct validity of these neighborhood-level social process measures.
KW - Collective efficacy
KW - Neighborhood social context
KW - Social capital
KW - Social disorganization theory
KW - Socioeconomic status
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbn041
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbn041
M3 - Article
C2 - 19255089
AN - SCOPUS:65349137216
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 64
SP - 415
EP - 424
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 3
ER -