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Characterizing social environment's association with neurocognition using census and crime data linked to the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2015

T. M. Moore ,
I. K. Martin ,
O. M. Gur ,
C. T. Jackson ,
J. C. Scott ,
M. E. Calkins ,
K. Ruparel ,
A. M. Port ,
I. Nivar  and
H. D. Krinsky
...Show all authors
T. M. Moore*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
I. K. Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
O. M. Gur
Affiliation:
Department of Criminal Justice, Pennsylvania State University, Abington College, Abington, PA, USA
C. T. Jackson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
J. C. Scott
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
M. E. Calkins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
K. Ruparel
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
A. M. Port
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
I. Nivar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
H. D. Krinsky
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
R. E. Gur
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
R. C. Gur
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
*
* Address for correspondence: T. M. Moore, Ph.D., M.Sc., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. (Email: tymoore@upenn.edu)
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Abstract

Background

The contribution of ‘environment’ has been investigated across diverse and multiple domains related to health. However, in the context of large-scale genomic studies the focus has been on obtaining individual-level endophenotypes with environment left for future decomposition. Geo-social research has indicated that environment-level variables can be reduced, and these composites can then be used with other variables as intuitive, precise representations of environment in research.

Method

Using a large community sample (N = 9498) from the Philadelphia area, participant addresses were linked to 2010 census and crime data. These were then factor analyzed (exploratory factor analysis; EFA) to arrive at social and criminal dimensions of participants' environments. These were used to calculate environment-level scores, which were merged with individual-level variables. We estimated an exploratory multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) exploring associations among environment- and individual-level variables in diverse communities.

Results

The EFAs revealed that census data was best represented by two factors, one socioeconomic status and one household/language. Crime data was best represented by a single crime factor. The MSEM variables had good fit (e.g. comparative fit index = 0.98), and revealed that environment had the largest association with neurocognitive performance (β = 0.41, p < 0.0005), followed by parent education (β = 0.23, p < 0.0005).

Conclusions

Environment-level variables can be combined to create factor scores or composites for use in larger statistical models. Our results are consistent with literature indicating that individual-level socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. race and gender) and aspects of familial social capital (e.g. parental education) have statistical relationships with neurocognitive performance.

Keywords

Censusfactor analysisgeo-codingneurocognitionPhiladelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohortsocioeconomic status
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , February 2016 , pp. 599 - 610
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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