Citation:

King, K. Response to "History of Place, Life Course and Health Inequalities". AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 181(1):30-31, (2015).

Impact/Purpose:

The purpose of an invited commentary and response, when the commentary is positive, is to raise the profile of the original journal article. This response letter addresses and expands on the comments raised by the comment, discussing how the life course of the individual and neighborhood relate to land use change, and the future of neighborhood and health research.

Description:

I would like to thank Jamie Pearce for his warm commentary on our paper . Pearce points out the challenges posed by cross-sectional data on the geography of health-related resources. An additional consideration is the potential benefit to considering population heterogeneity. Our present theoretical paradigms tend to see neighborhood-links as “one size fits all,” but it may be that environmental features differentially benefit or harm those with differing physical capacities, household compositions, or time constraints. Understanding what features benefit whom under what circumstances could make it possible to incorporate residential choice into health advice for individuals. Places which foster physical activity and social connectedness, for instance, may not be the same for children and for older adults. As households choose or are sorted into available housing units, they seek to maximize their well-being. Their decision criteria may include the potential for healthy living through access to resources and avoiding environmental hazards. Thus, cross-sectional studies are deeply confounded by residential selection. Further research into how people take into account specific aspects of neighborhoods and housing units can contribute to understanding of the roles of residential selection and causal effects in place effects on health.

URLs/Downloads:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwu315  

Record Details:

Record Type:DOCUMENT( JOURNAL/ PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL)

Product Published Date:01/01/2015

Record Last Revised:11/21/2017

OMB Category:Other

Record ID: 316790

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