Evaluating nighttime observational measures of neighborhood disorder: Validity of the nighttime NIfETy assessment

Abstract

While there are a growing number of observational instruments to assess the built and social dimensions of the neighborhood environment, there are few reliable and validated instruments; there are no instruments that assess the neighborhood environment during nighttime hours, a potential peak period of health and safety risk. The purpose of this investigation is to establish the metric properties of Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) Instrument nighttime ratings. Reliability of the scale was measured by internal consistency reliability and test re-test correlation. Validity was evaluated through correlation with the daytime NIfETy rating and regression models with local violent crime data. The nighttime items had good internal consistency (α = .81–82) for the total scale and acceptable internal consistency for a seven-item nighttime disorder scale (α = .66–.71). Future investigations will examine the nighttime NIfETy and its association with specific risk behaviors to evaluate changes in neighborhood environment.

Measurement of Social Processes at the Neighborhood Level in Baltimore City

“…For the improvements index, the inclusion of only three items was a major limitation and the addition of more items could substantially improve its psychometric properties. This study extends previous evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the NIfETy Instrument by establishing measures and describing psychometric properties at a higher level of aggregation and across a longer time period than previously researched (Furr-Holden et al, 2014;Furr-Holden et al, 2008;Lloyd, 2017;Milam et al, 2016). Though other options for area-level aggregation exist, CSAs are used by many stakeholders in Baltimore City to identify variation in population health and provide a macro-level view for public health practicing and city planners (Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, 2014).…”

“…Internal consistency of the violence index was limited based on the inclusion of several very low-frequency items with 4 of the 7 items identified at less than 1% block-face level observations at any of the annual observations. The addition of more frequently observed indicators of violence and/or the use of the nighttime assessment (Milam et al, 2016) may increase internal consistency for this measure. For all other assessments of reliability and validity, this index performed well, suggesting that the observed items were indicative of a specific neighborhood construct.…”

“…Using observational assessments, Furr-Holden and colleagues have collected over a dozen waves of observational data using the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy) Instrument, an objective tool to measure the neighborhood physical and social context (Furr-Holden et al, 2010;Furr-Holden et al, 2008). Previous research supports the reliability and validity of the NIfETy tool for measuring neighborhood constructs at the block level (Furr-Holden et al, 2010;Milam et al, 2016). NIfETy items are aligned with theories regarding neighborhood conditions and human behavior, such as the family of incivility theories, the social cognitive model of learned behaviors, and differential opportunity theory (Furr-Holden et al, 2010).…”

“…Both complete NIfETy inventory (n = 172) and itemspecific measures of inter-rater reliability have been previously evaluated at the observation level with performance ranging from acceptable to exemplary (Furr-Holden et al, 2010). Additional information regarding the deployment of the NIfETy, including a complete list of items in the inventory, and evaluation of psychometric properties for individual items and the total inventory of items at the block-face level is documented elsewhere (Furr-Holden et al, 2010;Milam et al, 2016).…”

Exploring neighborhood environmental influences on reading comprehension

“…Neighborhood disorder has been characterized by aspects such as excessive noise pollution, abandoned buildings and ineffective land-use patterns, vandalism, and the presence of homeless persons (e.g. Cohen, Glass & Singer, 1973;Milam, Johnson, Nesoff, Reboussin & Furr-Holden, 2016).…”