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Validating Self-Reported Food Expenditures against Food Store and Eating-Out Receipts

Tang, W.; Aggarwal, A.; Liu, Z.; Acheson, M.; Rehm, C. D.; Moudon, A. V.; Drewnowski, A. (2016). Validating Self-Reported Food Expenditures against Food Store and Eating-Out Receipts. European Journal Of Clinical Nutrition, 70(3), 352 – 357.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To compare objective food store and eating-out receipts with self-reported household food expenditures. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The Seattle Obesity Study II was based on a representative sample of King County adults, Washington, USA. Self-reported household food expenditures were modeled on the Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey (FCBS) Module from 2007 to 2009 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Objective food expenditure data were collected using receipts. Self-reported food expenditures for 447 participants were compared with receipts using paired t-tests, Bland-Altman plots and.-statistics. Bias by sociodemographics was also examined. RESULTS: Self-reported expenditures closely matched with objective receipt data. Paired t-tests showed no significant differences between receipts and self-reported data on total food expenditures, expenditures at food stores or eating out. However, the highest-income strata showed weaker agreement. Bland-Altman plots confirmed no significant bias across both methods-mean difference: 6.4; agreement limits: -123.5 to 143.4 for total food expenditures, mean difference 5.7 for food stores and mean difference 1.7 for eating out. The kappa-statistics showed good agreement for each (kappa 0.51, 0.41 and 0.49 respectively. Households with higher education and income had significantly more number of receipts and higher food expenditures. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported food expenditures using NHANES questions, both for food stores and eating out, serve as a decent proxy for objective household food expenditures from receipts. This method should be used with caution among high-income populations, or with high food expenditures. This is the first validation of the FCBS food expenditures question using food store and eating-out receipts.

Keywords

Household Food; Supermarket; Obesity; Energy; Purchases; Patterns; Women; Fat

Higher Residential and Employment Densities Are Associated with More Objectively Measured Walking in the Home Neighborhood

Huang, Ruizhu; Moudon, Anne, V; Zhou, Chuan; Saelens, Brian E. (2019). Higher Residential and Employment Densities Are Associated with More Objectively Measured Walking in the Home Neighborhood. Journal Of Transport & Health, 12, 142 – 151.

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Abstract

Introduction: Understanding where people walk and how the built environment influences walking is a priority in active living research. Most previous studies were limited by self-reported data on walking. In the present study, walking bouts were determined by integrating one week of accelerometry, GPS, and a travel log data among 675 adult participants in the baseline sample of the Travel Assessment and Community study at Seattle, Washington in the United State. Methods: Home neighborhood was defined as being within 0.5 mile of each participants' residence (a 10-min walk), with home neighborhood walking defined as walking bout lines with at least one GPS point within the home neighborhood. Home neighborhood walkability was constructed with seven built environment variables derived from spatially continuous objective values (SmartMaps). Collinearity among neighborhood environment variables was analyzed and variables that were strongly correlated with residential density were excluded in the regression analysis to avoid erroneous estimates. A Zero Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) served to estimate associations between home neighborhood environment characteristics and home neighborhood walking frequency. Results: The study found that more than half of participants' walking bouts occurred in their own home neighborhood. Higher residential density and job density were the two neighborhood walkability measures related to higher likelihood and more time walking in the home neighborhood, highest tertile residential density (22.4-62.6 unit/ha) (coefficient= 1.43; 95% CI 1.00-2.05) and highest tertile job density (12.4-272.3 jobs/acre) (coefficient= 1.62; 1.10-2.37). Conclusions: The large proportion of walking that takes place in the home neighborhood highlights the importance of continuing to examine the impact of the home neighborhood environment on walking. Potential interventions to increase walking behavior may benefit from increasing residential and employment density within residential areas.

Keywords

Body-mass Index; Built Environment; Physical-activity; Land Uses; Epidemiology; Selection; Location; Obesity; Travel Assessment And Community; Smartmaps; Neighborhood Environment; Physical Activity; Walking

Residential Property Values are Associated with Obesity among Women in King County, WA, USA

Rehm, Colin D.; Moudon, Anne V.; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Drewnowski, Adam. (2012). Residential Property Values are Associated with Obesity among Women in King County, WA, USA. Social Science & Medicine, 75(3), 491 – 495.

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Abstract

Studies of social determinants of weight and health in the US have typically relied on self-reported education and incomes as the two primary measures of socioeconomic status (SES). The assessed value of one's home, an important component of wealth, may be a better measure of the underlying SES construct and a better predictor of obesity. The Seattle Obesity Study (SOS), conducted in 2008-9, was a cross-sectional random digit dial telephone survey of 2001 adults in King County, Washington State, US. Participants' addresses were geocoded and residential property values for each tax parcel were obtained from the county tax assessor's database. Prevalence ratios of obesity by property values, education, and household income were estimated separately for women and men, after adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, household size, employment status and home ownership. Among women, the inverse association between property values and obesity was very strong and independent of other SES factors. Women in the bottom quartile of property values were 3.4 times more likely to be obese than women in the top quartile. No association between property values and obesity was observed for men. The present data strengthen the evidence for a social gradient in obesity among women. Property values may represent a novel and objective measure of SES at the individual level in the US. Measures based on tax assessment data will provide a valuable resource for future health studies. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Communities; Employment; Income; Obesity; Poisson Distribution; Probability Theory; Research Funding; Self-evaluation; Sex Distribution; Social Classes; Statistics; Surveys; Data Analysis; Educational Attainment; Cross-sectional Method; Data Analysis Software; Descriptive Statistics; Washington (state); Health Status Disparities; Health Surveys; Social Class; Socioeconomic Factors; Usa; Women; Body-mass Index; Socioeconomic-status; Aged Men; Health; Weight; Disparities; Overweight; Disease; Poverty; Height

Multistate Evaluation of Safe Routes to School Programs

Stewart, Orion; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Claybrooke, Charlotte. (2014). Multistate Evaluation of Safe Routes to School Programs. American Journal Of Health Promotion, 28, S89 – S96.

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Abstract

Purpose. State Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs provide competitive grants to local projects that support safe walking, bicycling, and other modes of active school travel (AST). This study assessed changes in rates of AST after implementation of SRTS projects at multiple sites across four states. Design. One-group pretest and posttest. Setting. Florida, Mississippi, Washington, and Wisconsin. Subjects. Convenience sample of 48 completed SRTS projects and 53 schools affected by a completed SRTS project. Intervention. State-funded SRTS project. Measures. AST was measured as the percentage of students walking, bicycling, or using any AST mode. SRTS project characteristics were measured at the project, school, and school neighborhood levels. Analysis. Paired-samples t-tests were used to assess changes in AST. Bivariate analysis was used to identify SRTS project characteristics associated with increases in AST. Data were analyzed separately at the project (n = 48) and school (n = 53) levels. Results. Statistically significant increases in AST were observed across projects in all four states. All AST modes increased from 12.9% to 17.6%; walking from 9.8% to 14.2%; and bicycling from 2.5% to 3.0%. Increases in rates of bicycling were negatively correlated with baseline rates of bicycling. Conclusion. State-funded SRTS projects are achieving one of the primary program goals of increasing rates of AST. They may be particularly effective at introducing bicycling to communities where it is rare. The evaluation framework introduced in this study can be used to continue tracking the effect of state SRTS programs as more projects are completed.

Keywords

Transportation Of School Children; Physical Activity Measurement; Health Promotion; Cycling; Walking; School Children -- United States; Bicycling; Children; Commuting; Health Focus: Fitness/physical Activity; Manuscript Format: Research; Outcome Measure: Behavioral; Prevention Research; Research Purpose: Program Evaluation; Schools; Setting: School; Strategy: Skill Building/behavior Change, Built Environment; Study Design: Quasi-experimental; Target Population Age: Youth; Target Population Circumstances: Geographic Location; Physical-activity; Mental-health; Travel; Association; Validity; Mode; Bus

The Residential Effect Fallacy in Neighborhood and Health Studies Formal Definition, Empirical Identification, and Correction

Chaix, Basile; Duncan, Dustin; Vallee, Julie; Vernez-moudon, Anne; Benmarhnia, Tarik; Kestens, Yan. (2017). The Residential Effect Fallacy in Neighborhood and Health Studies Formal Definition, Empirical Identification, and Correction. Epidemiology, 28(6), 789 – 797.

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Abstract

Background: Because of confounding from the urban/rural and socioeconomic organizations of territories and resulting correlation between residential and nonresidential exposures, classically estimated residential neighborhood-outcome associations capture nonresidential environment effects, overestimating residential intervention effects. Our study diagnosed and corrected this residential effect fallacy bias applicable to a large fraction of neighborhood and health studies. Methods: Our empirical application investigated the effect that hypothetical interventions raising the residential number of services would have on the probability that a trip is walked. Using global positioning systems tracking and mobility surveys over 7 days (227 participants and 7440 trips), we employed a multilevel linear probability model to estimate the trip-level association between residential number of services and walking to derive a naive intervention effect estimate and a corrected model accounting for numbers of services at the residence, trip origin, and trip destination to determine a corrected intervention effect estimate (true effect conditional on assumptions). Results: There was a strong correlation in service densities between the residential neighborhood and nonresidential places. From the naive model, hypothetical interventions raising the residential number of services to 200, 500, and 1000 were associated with an increase by 0.020, 0.055, and 0.109 of the probability of walking in the intervention groups. Corrected estimates were of 0.007, 0.019, and 0.039. Thus, naive estimates were overestimated by multiplicative factors of 3.0, 2.9, and 2.8. Conclusions: Commonly estimated residential intervention-outcome associations substantially overestimate true effects. Our somewhat paradoxical conclusion is that to estimate residential effects, investigators critically need information on nonresidential places visited.

Keywords

Self-rated Health; Record Cohort; Physical-activity; Transportation Modes; Built Environment; Activity Spaces; Research Agenda; Risk-factors; Associations; Exposure

Intersections and Non-Intersections: A Protocol for Identifying Pedestrian Crash Risk Locations in GIS

Kang, Mingyu; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Kim, Haena; Boyle, Linda Ng. (2019). Intersections and Non-Intersections: A Protocol for Identifying Pedestrian Crash Risk Locations in GIS. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 16(19).

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Abstract

Intersection and non-intersection locations are commonly used as spatial units of analysis for modeling pedestrian crashes. While both location types have been previously studied, comparing results is difficult given the different data and methods used to identify crash-risk locations. In this study, a systematic and replicable protocol was developed in GIS (Geographic Information System) to create a consistent spatial unit of analysis for use in pedestrian crash modelling. Four publicly accessible datasets were used to identify unique intersection and non-intersection locations: Roadway intersection points, roadway lanes, legal speed limits, and pedestrian crash records. Two algorithms were developed and tested using five search radii (ranging from 20 to 100 m) to assess the protocol reliability. The algorithms, which were designed to identify crash-risk locations at intersection and non-intersection areas detected 87.2% of the pedestrian crash locations (r: 20 m). Agreement rates between algorithm results and the crash data were 94.1% for intersection and 98.0% for non-intersection locations, respectively. The buffer size of 20 m generally showed the highest performance in the analyses. The present protocol offered an efficient and reliable method to create spatial analysis units for pedestrian crash modeling. It provided researchers a cost-effective method to identify unique intersection and non-intersection locations. Additional search radii should be tested in future studies to refine the capture of crash-risk locations.

Keywords

Traffic Crash; Walking; Collisions; Accidents; Models; Pedestrian Safety; Spatial Autocorrelation; Algorithm

The Economic Value of Walkable Neighborhoods

Sohn, Dong Wook; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Lee, Jeasun. (2012). The Economic Value of Walkable Neighborhoods. Urban Design International, 17(2), 115 – 128.

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Abstract

This study investigated how the benefits of a walkable neighborhood were reflected in the American real estate market by examining the economic values of urban environmental factors supporting walking activities. Property values were used as a proxy measure for economic value and analyzed in relation to land use characteristics that have been known to correlate with walking at the neighborhood scale. Four aspects of the built environment supporting walking were included in the analyses: development density, land use mix, public open space and pedestrian infrastructure. Hedonic models were employed where the property value was regressed on the measures of the four sets of correlates of walking in a neighborhood. Models were estimated for four land use types - single-family residential, rental multi-family residential, commercial and office. The findings did not support previous arguments that increasing density weakens the quality of a neighborhood. To the contrary, the positive association of higher development density with the value of single-family residential properties detected in King County suggested that high development density might increase surrounding property values. The pedestrian infrastructure and land use mix significantly contributed to increases in rental multi-family residential property values. Higher development density with higher street and sidewalk coverage were also favored by retail service uses. In relation to land use mix, mixing retail service uses and rental multi-family residential uses helped make rental housings more attractive. URBAN DESIGN International (2012) 17, 115-128. doi:10.1057/udi.2012.1; published online 4 April 2012

Keywords

Land-use; Physical-activity; Travel Behavior; Smart Growth; Mode Choice; Urban Form; Walking; Gis; Transportation; Accessibility; Mixed Land Use; Neighborhood; Urban Design

Worksite Neighborhood and Obesogenic Behaviors: Findings among Employees in the Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating (PACE) Trial

Barrington, Wendy E.; Beresford, Shirley A. A.; Koepsell, Thomas D.; Duncan, Glen E.; Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2015). Worksite Neighborhood and Obesogenic Behaviors: Findings among Employees in the Promoting Activity and Changes in Eating (PACE) Trial. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, 48(1), 31 – 41.

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Abstract

Background: Understanding mechanisms linking neighborhood context to health behaviors may provide targets for increasing lifestyle intervention effectiveness. Although associations between home neighborhood and obesogenic behaviors have been studied, less is known about the role of worksite neighborhood. Purpose: To evaluate associations between worksite neighborhood context at baseline (2006) and change in obesogenic behaviors of adult employees at follow-up (2007-2009) in a worksite randomized trial to prevent weight gain. Methods: Worksite property values were used as an indicator of worksite neighborhood SES (NSES). Worksite neighborhood built environment attributes associated with walkability were evaluated as explanatory factors in relationships among worksite NSES, diet, and physical activity behaviors of employees. Behavioral data were collected at baseline (2005-2007) and follow-up (2007-2009). Multilevel linear and logistic models were constructed adjusting for covariates and accounting for clustering within worksites. Product-of-coefficients methods were used to assess mediation. Analyses were performed after study completion (2011-2012). Results: Higher worksite NSES was associated with more walking (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.30, p = 0.01). Higher density of residential units surrounding worksites was associated with more walking and eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables, independent of worksite NSES. Residential density partially explained relationships among worksite NSES, fruit and vegetable consumption, and walking. Conclusions: Worksite neighborhood context may influence employees' obesogenic behaviors. Furthermore, residential density around worksites could be an indicator of access to dietary and physical activity-related infrastructure in urban areas. This may be important given the popularity of worksites as venues for obesity prevention efforts. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Keywords

Health Behavior; Food Habits; Lifestyles & Health; Prevention Of Obesity; Employee Health Promotion; Follow-up Studies (medicine); Local Food Environment; Dietary Energy Density; Body-mass Index; Socioeconomic-status; Physical-activity; Built Environment; Longitudinal-associations; Walking Behavior; Restaurant Use; Weight-gain

Utilitarian and Recreational Walking Among Spanish- and English-Speaking Latino Adults in Micropolitan US Towns

Doescher, Mark P.; Lee, Chanam; Saelens, Brian E.; Lee, Chunkuen; Berke, Ethan M.; Adachi-mejia, Anna M.; Patterson, Davis G.; Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2017). Utilitarian and Recreational Walking Among Spanish- and English-Speaking Latino Adults in Micropolitan US Towns. Journal Of Immigrant & Minority Health, 19(2), 237 – 245.

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Abstract

Walking among Latinos in US Micropolitan towns may vary by language spoken. In 2011-2012, we collected telephone survey and built environment (BE) data from adults in six towns located within micropolitan counties from two states with sizable Latino populations. We performed mixed-effects logistic regression modeling to examine relationships between ethnicity-language group [Spanish-speaking Latinos (SSLs); English-speaking Latinos (ESLs); and English-speaking non-Latinos (ENLs)] and utilitarian walking and recreational walking, accounting for socio-demographic, lifestyle and BE characteristics. Low-income SSLs reported higher amounts of utilitarian walking than ENLs (p = 0.007), but utilitarian walking in this group decreased as income increased. SSLs reported lower amounts of recreational walking than ENLs (p = 0.004). ESL-ENL differences were not significant. We identified no statistically significant interactions between ethnicity-language group and BE characteristics. Approaches to increase walking in micropolitan towns with sizable SSL populations may need to account for this group's differences in walking behaviors.

Keywords

Walking; Confidence Intervals; Ecology; Ethnic Groups; Hispanic Americans; Income; Language & Languages; Metropolitan Areas; Population; Public Health; Recreation; Rural Conditions; White People; Logistic Regression Analysis; Socioeconomic Factors; Social Context; Body Mass Index; Acquisition Of Data; Physical Activity; Data Analysis Software; Odds Ratio; United States; Environment Design; Ethnicity; Rural Populations; Physical-activity; Built Environment; United-states; Postmenopausal Women; Acculturation; Risk; Transportation; Mortality; Health; Associations; Studies; Demographic Aspects; Telephone Surveys; Minority & Ethnic Groups; Physical Fitness; Low Income Groups; Urban Environments; Demographics; Language; Accounting; Statistical Analysis; Urban Areas; Towns; Populations; Adults; Lifestyles; Latin American Cultural Groups; Sociodemographics; Landscape Architecture; Population Growth; Pediatrics; Leisure; Health Care; Noncitizens; Preventive Medicine; United States--us

Framing the Question: Is Shrinking Good or Bad?

Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2019). Framing the Question: Is Shrinking Good or Bad? Journal Of Urban Design, 24(1), 66 – 68.

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Keywords

Urban Planning; Unemployment; Cost Of Living; Balance Of Trade; Medical Care; Economic Development; Demography; Decision Making; Framing