title: Constructing a Time-Invariant Measure of the Socio-economic Status of U.S. Census Tracts.
abstract: Contextual research on time and place requires a consistent measurement instrument for neighborhood conditions in order to make unbiased inferences about neighborhood change. We develop such a time-invariant measure of neighborhood socio-economic status (NSES) using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses fit to census data at the tract level from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Censuses and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey. A single factor model fit the data well at all three time periods, and factor loadings--but not indicator intercepts--could be constrained to equality over time without decrement to fit. After addressing remaining longitudinal measurement bias, we found that NSES increased from 1990 to 2000, and then--consistent with the timing of the "Great Recession"--declined in 2008-2012 to a level approaching that of 1990. Our approach for evaluating and adjusting for time-invariance is not only instructive for studies of NSES but also more generally for longitudinal studies in which the variable of interest is a latent construct.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jeremy N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA. mweden@rand.org.
authors.forename: Margaret M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Weden
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lavery
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.|University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: José J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Escarce
authors.affiliation: University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cagney
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Regina A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Shih
mesh_terms: D019352:Censuses; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D014481:United States
keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis; Invariance; Measurement bias; Neighborhood change; Neighborhood disadvantage; Neighborhood socio-economic status