IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v232y2019icp148-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Putting ‘place’ in its place: Comparing place-based factors in interurban analyses of life expectancy in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Frederick, Chad
  • Hammersmith, Anna
  • Gilderbloom, John Hans

Abstract

Extant interurban research in life expectancy greatly suffers from an underestimation of the role of place. Place is often conceptualized as a level of geography; this view ignores categorical differences between types of places. In addition, despite advances in theory and research that support their use, many important place-based factors remain under-utilized as control variables. We use multivariate analyses of life expectancy for the top and bottom quartiles of household income by sex in 148 US counties to compare the strengths of seventeen diverse variables. We find that cities’ built, natural, and social environments play strong roles in life expectancy disparity among cities; many place-based variables consistently compare in strength to well-known control variables such as race, education, and behaviors. Furthermore, we find that place impacts men and women differently, even within the same income quartile. Indeed, some factors are associated with higher life expectancy in some demographic groups, and lower life expectancy in others. Researchers can protect against omitted variable bias when investigating public health outcomes by using a wider range of control variables. Researchers should also use better measures of place, and consider selecting specific cases to study.

Suggested Citation

  • Frederick, Chad & Hammersmith, Anna & Gilderbloom, John Hans, 2019. "Putting ‘place’ in its place: Comparing place-based factors in interurban analyses of life expectancy in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 148-155.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:232:y:2019:i:c:p:148-155
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.047
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619302564
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.047?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Craig A. Talmage & Chad Frederick, 2019. "Quality of Life, Multimodality, and the Demise of the Autocentric Metropolis: A Multivariate Analysis of 148 Mid-Size U.S. Cities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 365-390, January.
    2. L. M.A. Bettencourt & J. Lobo & G. B. West, 2008. "Why are large cities faster? Universal scaling and self-similarity in urban organization and dynamics," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 63(3), pages 285-293, June.
    3. Leyden, K.M., 2003. "Social Capital and the Built Environment: The Importance of Walkable Neighborhoods," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1546-1551.
    4. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D., 1997. "Social capital, income inequality, and mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1491-1498.
    5. Rosen, Allison B. & Stewart, Susan T. & Cutler, David M., 2009. "Forecasting the Effects of Obesity and Smoking on U.S. Life Expectancy," Scholarly Articles 5344184, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    6. Diez-Roux, A.V., 1998. "Bringing context back into epidemiology: Variables and fallacies in multilevel analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(2), pages 216-222.
    7. McMillen, Daniel P. & Smith, Stefani C., 2003. "The number of subcenters in large urban areas," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 321-338, May.
    8. Goodarz Danaei & Eric B Rimm & Shefali Oza & Sandeep C Kulkarni & Christopher J L Murray & Majid Ezzati, 2010. "The Promise of Prevention: The Effects of Four Preventable Risk Factors on National Life Expectancy and Life Expectancy Disparities by Race and County in the United States," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(3), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Giuliano, Genevieve, 2003. "Travel, location and race/ethnicity," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 351-372, May.
    10. Neil Brenner & Christian Schmid, 2015. "Towards a new epistemology of the urban?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2-3), pages 151-182, June.
    11. Knox, Paul L. & Bohland, James & Shumsky, Neil Larry, 1983. "The urban transition and the evolution of the medical care delivery system in America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 37-43, January.
    12. Cutts, Bethany B. & Darby, Kate J. & Boone, Christopher G. & Brewis, Alexandra, 2009. "City structure, obesity, and environmental justice: An integrated analysis of physical and social barriers to walkable streets and park access," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1314-1322, November.
    13. Cummins, Steven & Curtis, Sarah & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Macintyre, Sally, 2007. "Understanding and representing 'place' in health research: A relational approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1825-1838, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dobis, Elizabeth A. & Stephens, Heather M. & Skidmore, Mark & Goetz, Stephan J., 2020. "Explaining the spatial variation in American life expectancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    2. Chad Frederick, 2022. "Economic Sustainability and ‘Missing Middle Housing’: Associations between Housing Stock Diversity and Unemployment in Mid-Size U.S. Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Wang, Shaobin & Ren, Zhoupeng & Liu, Xianglong & Yin, Qian, 2022. "Spatiotemporal trends in life expectancy and impacts of economic growth and air pollution in 134 countries: A Bayesian modeling study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Southwell, Brian G. & Slater, Jonathan S. & Rothman, Alexander J. & Friedenberg, Laura M. & Allison, Tiffany R. & Nelson, Christina L., 2010. "The availability of community ties predicts likelihood of peer referral for mammography: Geographic constraints on viral marketing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1627-1635, November.
    2. Spielman, Seth E. & Yoo, Eun-hye, 2009. "The spatial dimensions of neighborhood effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1098-1105, March.
    3. Shaun Scholes & Madhavi Bajekal & Paul Norman & Martin O’Flaherty & Nathaniel Hawkins & Mika Kivimäki & Simon Capewell & Rosalind Raine, 2013. "Quantifying Policy Options for Reducing Future Coronary Heart Disease Mortality in England: A Modelling Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-1, July.
    4. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2017. "Equity in Microscale Urban Design and Walkability: A Photographic Survey of Six Pittsburgh Streetscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Shoff, Carla & Yang, Tse-Chuan, 2012. "Untangling the associations among distrust, race, and neighborhood social environment: A social disorganization perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1342-1352.
    6. Craig A. Talmage & Chad Frederick, 2019. "Quality of Life, Multimodality, and the Demise of the Autocentric Metropolis: A Multivariate Analysis of 148 Mid-Size U.S. Cities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 365-390, January.
    7. Wilkinson, Richard G. & Pickett, Kate E., 2007. "The problems of relative deprivation: Why some societies do better than others," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1965-1978, November.
    8. Mansyur, Carol & Amick, Benjamin C. & Harrist, Ronald B. & Franzini, Luisa, 2008. "Social capital, income inequality, and self-rated health in 45 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 43-56, January.
    9. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2023. "The changing ethno-racial profile of ‘very walkable’ urban neighbourhoods in the US (2010–2020): Are minorities under-represented?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(4), pages 638-654, March.
    10. Curtis, Sarah & Setia, Maninder S. & Quesnel-Vallee, Amelie, 2009. "Socio-geographic mobility and health status: A longitudinal analysis using the National Population Health Survey of Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1845-1853, December.
    11. Cannuscio, Carolyn C. & Weiss, Eve E. & Fruchtman, Hannah & Schroeder, Jeannette & Weiner, Janet & Asch, David A., 2009. "Visual epidemiology: Photographs as tools for probing street-level etiologies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 553-564, August.
    12. Aminzadeh, Kaveh & Denny, Simon & Utter, Jennifer & Milfont, Taciano L. & Ameratunga, Shanthi & Teevale, Tasileta & Clark, Terryann, 2013. "Neighbourhood social capital and adolescent self-reported wellbeing in New Zealand: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 13-21.
    13. Petrović, Ana & Manley, David & van Ham, Maarten, 2018. "Freedom from the Tyranny of Neighbourhood: Rethinking Socio-Spatial Context Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 11416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Bart De Clercq & Els Clays & Heidi Janssens & Dirk De Bacquer & Annalisa Casini & France Kittel & Lutgart Braeckman, 2015. "Health Behaviours As a Mechanism in the Prospective Relation between Workplace Reciprocity and Absenteeism: A Bridge too Far ?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-13, November.
    15. Andrews, Gavin J. & Hall, Edward & Evans, Bethan & Colls, Rachel, 2012. "Moving beyond walkability: On the potential of health geography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(11), pages 1925-1932.
    16. Shima Hamidi & Reid Ewing & Zaria Tatalovich & James B. Grace & David Berrigan, 2018. "Associations between Urban Sprawl and Life Expectancy in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-11, April.
    17. Chad Frederick, 2022. "Economic Sustainability and ‘Missing Middle Housing’: Associations between Housing Stock Diversity and Unemployment in Mid-Size U.S. Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Nandi, Arijit & Galea, Sandro & Ahern, Jennifer & Bucciarelli, Angela & Vlahov, David & Tardiff, Kenneth, 2006. "What explains the association between neighborhood-level income inequality and the risk of fatal overdose in New York City?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 662-674, August.
    19. Macintyre, Sally & Macdonald, Laura & Ellaway, Anne, 2008. "Do poorer people have poorer access to local resources and facilities? The distribution of local resources by area deprivation in Glasgow, Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 900-914, September.
    20. Oshan, Taylor M. & Smith, Jordan & Fotheringham, Alexander Stewart, 2020. "Targeting the spatial context of obesity determinants via multiscale geographically weighted regression," OSF Preprints u7j29, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:232:y:2019:i:c:p:148-155. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.