Date Available

2-27-2013

Year of Publication

2013

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Geography

First Advisor

Dr. Gary Shannon

Abstract

Epidemic obesity in the U.S. has prompted exploration of causal factors related to the built environment. Recent research has noted statistical associations between the spatial accessibility of retail food sources, such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants, and individual characteristics such as weight, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. These studies typically use residential proximity or neighborhood density to food sources as the measure of accessibility. Assessing food environments in this manner, however, is very limiting. Since most people travel outside of their neighborhood on a daily basis, the retail food sources available to individuals residing in the same area could vary widely.

This research developed new techniques for describing food accessibility or food environments based upon individuals’ activity and travel patterns, or their activity spaces. Researchers have previously used travel diaries to study activity and travel behavior, but these are burdensome for participants, and are prone to recall error and other inaccuracies. This study explored use of global positioning system (GPS) to identify participants' activity spaces, and employed a geographic information system (GIS) to assess the retail food sources located within these spaces. This produced ‘activity-based’ measures of individual retail food accessibility that do not rely on areal units, nor require travel diaries.

Participants included 121 residents of a census tract in Lexington, Kentucky who agreed to carry GPS trackers for three workdays, and complete surveys regarding weight, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and diet and food purchasing habits. The types and relative frequencies of food locations within their activity spaces were compared to those within close proximity to the census tract. Dietary and food purchasing habits were subsequently analyzed in relation to activity-based food environment measures.

The results of this study demonstrate substantial potential for misclassification bias in food accessibility research based on residential proximity or neighborhood density. Furthermore, this study observed statistically significant relationships between the new activity-based food accessibility measures and some personal characteristics and food-related behaviors. Despite some limitations, the techniques developed in this research show great potential for future research, which should be explored further in a variety of contexts.

Download

Share

COinS