Open AccessAssessing Measurement Invariance of a Land Use Environment Construct Across Levels of Urbanicity
Author(s) -
Meeker Melissa A.,
Schwartz Brian S.,
BandeenRoche Karen,
Hirsch Annemarie G.,
De Silva S. Shanika A.,
McAlexander Tara P.,
Black Nyesha C.,
McClure Leslie A.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
geohealth
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2471-1403
DOI - 10.1029/2022gh000667
Subject(s) - metropolitan area , geography , measurement invariance , land use , metric (unit) , built environment , walkability , construct (python library) , confounding , statistics , intersection (aeronautics) , confirmatory factor analysis , econometrics , cartography , mathematics , computer science , structural equation modeling , business , engineering , civil engineering , archaeology , marketing , programming language
Abstract Variation in the land use environment (LUE) impacts the continuum of walkability to car dependency, which has been shown to have effects on health outcomes. Existing objective measures of the LUE do not consider whether the measurement of the construct varies across different types of communities along the rural/urban spectrum. To help meet the goals of the Diabetes Location, Environmental Attributes, and Disparities (LEAD) Network, we developed a national, census tract‐level LUE measure which evaluates the road network and land development. We tested for measurement invariance by LEAD community type (higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, and rural) using multiple group confirmatory factor analysis. We determined that metric invariance does not exist; thus, measurement of the LUE does vary across community type with average block length, average block size, and percent developed land driving most shared variability in rural tracts and with intersection density, street connectivity, household density, and commercial establishment density driving most shared variability in higher density urban tracts. As a result, epidemiologic studies need to consider community type when assessing the LUE to minimize place‐based confounding.