ITS Berkeley

Associations of Adult Physical Activity with Perceived Safety and Police-Recorded Crime: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Evenson, KR
Block, R
Roux, AV Diez
McGinn, AP
Wen, F
Rodriguez, Daniel
2012

Due to the inconsistent findings of prior studies, we explored the association of perceived safety and police-recorded crime measures with physical activity. The study included 818 Chicago participants of the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis 45 to 84 years of age. Questionnaire-assessed physical activity included a) transport walking; b) leisure walking; and c) non-walking leisure activities. Perceived safety was assessed through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Police-recorded crime was assessed through 2-year counts of selected crimes (total and outdoor incivilities,...

Associations Between Urban Greenspace and Depressive Symptoms in Mexico's Cities Using Different Greenspace Metrics

Bakhtsiyarava, M
Ju, Y
Moran, M
Rodriguez, Daniel
Dronova, I
Delclòs-Alió, X
Moore, K
Castillo-Riquelme, M
Anza-Ramirez, C
2024

Greenspace has been shown to be positively associated with mental wellbeing, but studies from the global South have been scarce. We advance the understanding of the relationship between greenspace and depressive symptoms by using multiple clearly defined metrics describing neighborhood greenness and urban parks in an understudied region with rapid urban growth.

Associations Between Self-Efficacy and Children's Pedestrian Safety Following Training

Wells, H
Rouse, J
Johnston, A
Sisiopiku, V
Rodriguez, Daniel
Combs, T
Schwebel, DC
2015

Pedestrian injury is a leading cause of unintentional pediatric death. Hundreds of deaths related to pedestrian injuries occur every year in children under 18. Virtual reality interventions to teach children safe pedestrian behavior have shown success. Increasing self-efficacy is consistently related to the induction and maintenance of behavior change following a variety of interventions. In children, self-efficacy is associated with intervention-driven changes in health and academic behaviors. Self-efficacy is also linked to child and adolescent pedestrian engagement, with children...

Assessing Public Health Benefits of Replacing Freight Trucks with Cargo Cycles in Last Leg Delivery Trips in Urban Centers

Hartle, J
Elrahman, O
Wang, C
Rodriguez, Daniel
Ding, Y
McGahan, M
2022

Increased urbanization, population growth, and demand for time-sensitive deliveries means increased freight movement in cities, which contributes to emissions, noise, and safety concerns. One innovative mode gaining widespread attention for urban deliveries is cargo cycles—bicycles adapted for freight delivery. Despite the recognized potential and possible success of transporting at least 25% of freight via cycle, research remains limited. This research investigates the potential of cargo cycle delivery for last mile freight in Oakland, California, with a focus on the West Oakland...

Assessing Urban and Rural Neighborhood Characteristics Using Audit and GIS Data: Derivation and Reliability of Constructs

Evenson, KR
Sotres-Alvarez, D
Herring, AH
Messer, L
Laraia, BA
Rodriguez, Daniel
2009

Measures to assess neighborhood environments are needed to better understand the salient features that may enhance outdoor physical activities, such as walking and bicycling for transport or leisure. The purpose of this study was to derive constructs to describe neighborhoods using both primary (neighborhood audit) and secondary (geographic information systems) data. We collected detailed information on 10,770 road segments using an audit and secondary data. The road segment sample was randomly split into an exploratory (60%) and validation sample (40%) for...

Assessing the Environmental, Economic and Social Benefits of Well-Located Workforce Housing

Rohe, W
Cowan, S
Rodriguez, Daniel
1012

The jobs-housing imbalance in many metropolitan areas contributes to long work commutes and the related problems of air pollution, traffic congestion, and loss of both discretionary income and time that could be spent in more productive and meaningful ways. This is a particular problem for low- and moderate-income workers who may have to travel long distances from their places of work to find affordable housing. This article presents a methodology for assessing the potential environmental, economic, and social benefits of constructing new affordable housing close to major employment...

Associations Between Neighborhood Built Environment and Cognition Vary by Apolipoprotein E genotype: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Besser, L
Galvin, JE
Rodriguez, Daniel
Seeman, T
Kukull, W
Rapp, S
Smith, J
2019

We examined whether neighborhood built environment (BE) and cognition associations in older adults vary by apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 4091 participants. Neighborhood characteristics included social and walking destination density (SDD, WDD), intersection density, and proportion of land dedicated to retail. Individuals were categorized as APOE ε2 (lower AD risk), APOE ε4 (higher AD risk), or APOE ε3 carriers. Among APOE ε2 carriers, greater proportion of land dedicated to retail was...

Are Traffic Safety Rules and Experience Sufficient to Make Children Safe Pedestrians?

Rouse, J
Smith, R
Sessions, M
Combs, T
Rodriguez, Daniel
Sisiopiku, V
Schwebel, DC
2015

Pedestrian injury is among the top causes of death in North American children ages 5-12 (NCIPC, 2014). Research documents a wide range of factors that contribute to child pedestrian injury risk, but many contributing factors remain unknown and unevaluated. This study considered two such factors: institution of safety rules by parents and children’s experience crossing streets. We hypothesized both presence of parental rules about traffic safety and greater child pedestrian experience would be associated with safer pedestrian behavior in children.

Assessing Google Street View Image Availability in Latin American Cities

Fry, D
Mooney, SJ
Rodriguez, Daniel
Caiaffa, WT
Lovasi, GS
2020

Virtual audits using Google Street View are an increasingly popular method of assessing neighborhood environments for health and urban planning research. However, the validity of these studies may be threatened by issues of image availability, image age, and variance of image age, particularly in the Global South. This study identifies patterns of Street View image availability, image age, and image age variance across cities in Latin America and assesses relationships between these measures and measures of resident socioeconomic conditions. Image availability was assessed at 530,308...

Assessing Area Under the Curve as an Alternative to Latent Growth Curve Modeling for Repeated Measures Zero-Inflated Poisson Data: A Simulation Study

Rodriguez, Daniel
2023
Researchers interested in the assessment of substance use trajectories, and predictors of change, have several data analysis options. These include, among others, generalized estimating equations and latent growth curve modeling. One difficulty in the assessment of substance use, however, is the nature of the variables studied. Although counting instances of use (e.g., the number of cigarettes smoked per day) would seem to be the best option, such data present difficulties in that the distribution of these variables is not likely normal. Count variables often follow a Poisson distribution,...