title: Toward a multidimensional understanding of residential neighborhood: a latent profile analysis of Los Angeles neighborhoods and longitudinal adult excess weight.
abstract: People are embedded in a complex socio-spatial context that may affect their weight status through multiple mechanisms, including food and physical activity opportunities and chronic stress exposure. However, research to date has been unable to resolve what features of neighborhoods are causally related to weight status. We used latent profile analysis to identify three "types" of neighborhoods (based on five dimensions of neighborhood social status) in Los Angeles, CA. Our neighborhood types were both substantively interpretable and predictive of excess weight in both cross-sectional and longitudinal models. Our results are promising for a research community attempting to operationalize neighborhoods as multidimensional, complex systems.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, 2001 N. Soto Street, Suite 312, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States. Electronic address: maliaj@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Malia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Institute for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Research, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, 2001 N. Soto Street, 302-Y, Los Angeles, CA 90033, United States. Electronic address: jimihuh@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Jimi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Latent profile analysis; Longitudinal model; Neighborhood effects; Obesity