Methods in Social Epidemiology (eBook)

J. Michael Oakes, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in theDivision of Epidemiology and Community Health, University ofMinnesota, and is affiliated with the Minnesota Population Center,the University's Metropolitan Design Center, and itsInstitute for Advanced Study. His research interests include socialepidemiology, research methodology, and human research subjectprotections. Originally trained in sociological methodology andmicroeconomics at the University of Massachusetts, Dr. Oakes hasauthored papers exploring neighborhood effects, the measurement ofsocioeconomic status in health research, and the role ofpolitical-economic theory in social epidemiology. His recent workconcerns "identification problems," especially inmatched propensity score and regression models relying onobservational designs. Dr. Oakes teaches graduate-level courses insecondary data analysis (with Stata), SAS programming, and grouprandomized trials, as well as a doctoral seminar on socialepidemiology. He regularly attends National Institutes of Healthstudy sections and consults with a number of not-for-profitcommunity organizations. He established and currently directs theSocial Epi Workgroup at the University of Minnesota. Jay S. Kaufman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in theDepartment of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at ChapelHill, a Fellow at the Carolina Population Center, and a ResearchFellow at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Dr.Kaufman's research interests include social epidemiology,minority health, statistical methodology, and health care. He haspublished widely on social epidemiology, causal inference, andinternational health, among other topics, and is an AssociateEditor for Epidemiologic Perspectives and Innovations andserves on the editorial board of the journal Epidemiology.His current research projects include research on social andcommunity factors in the etiology of adverse birth outcomes, socialposition over the life course in relation to cardiovasculardisease, non-parametric methods for covariate control andidentification of direct effects for social factors, and racial andethnic disparities associated with provision of medical care. Dr.Kaufman teaches courses in regression analysis and epidemiologicmethods.

About the Editors xi

About the Authors xiii

Preface xxi

PART ONE: BACKGROUND 1

1 Introduction: Advancing Methods in Social Epidemiology 3
J. Michael Oakes and Jay S. Kaufman

2 The History of Methods of Social Epidemiology to 1965 21
Christopher S. Hamlin

PART TWO: MEASURES AND MEASUREMENT 45

3 Indicators of Socioeconomic Position 47
Bruna Galobardes, Mary Shaw, Debbie A. Lawlor, George DaveySmith, and John Lynch

4 Measuring and Analyzing "Race," Racism, and RacialDiscrimination 86
Saffron Karlsen and James Yzet Nazroo

5 Measuring Poverty 112
David M. Betson and Jennifer L. Warlick

6 Measuring Health Inequalities 134
Sam Harper and John Lynch

7 A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Segregation and ItsAssociation with Population Outcomes 169
Sean F. Reardon

8 Measures of Residential Community Contexts 193
Patricia O'Campo and Margaret O'Brien Caughy

9 Using Census Data to Approximate Neighborhood Effects209
Lynne C. Messer and Jay S. Kaufman

PART THREE: DESIGN AND ANALYSIS 237

10 Community-Based Participatory Research: Rationale andRelevance for Social Epidemiology 239
Paula M. Lantz, Barbara A. Israel, Amy J. Schulz, and AngelaReyes

11 Network Methods in Social Epidemiology 267
Peter V. Marsden

12 Identifying Social Interactions: A Review 287
Lawrence E. Blume and Steven N. Durlauf

13 Multilevel Studies 316
Tony A. Blakely and S. V. Subramanian

14 Experimental Social Epidemiology--Controlled CommunityTrials 341
Peter J. Hannan

15 Propensity Score Matching for Social Epidemiology 370
J. Michael Oakes and Pamela Jo Johnson

16 Using Causal Diagrams to Understand Common Problems in SocialEpidemiology 393
M. Maria Glymour

17 Natural Experiments and Instrumental Variable Analyses inSocial Epidemiology 429
M. Maria Glymour

Name Index 461

Subject Index 469

"This is a very interesting textbook, useful for social epidemiology researchers... Researchers, lecturers, and advanced students should have this book near them for reference in their everyday activities." (International Journal of Epidemiology, 09/19/2007)"Publication of this highly informative textbook clearly reflectsthe coming of age of many social epidemiology methods, theimportance of which rests on their potential contribution tosignificantly improving the effectiveness of the population-basedapproach to prevention. This book should be of great interest notonly to more advanced epidemiology students but also toepidemiologists in general, particularly those concerned withhealth policy and the translation of epidemiologic findings intopublic health practice. The cause of achieving a 'morecomplete' epidemiology envisaged by the editors has beensignificantly advanced by this excellent textbook."
--Moyses Szklo, professor of epidemiology and editor-in-chief,American Journal of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University

"Social epidemiology is a comparatively new field of inquirythat seeks to describe and explain the social and geographicdistribution of health and of the determinants of health. This bookconsiders the major methodological challenges facing this importantfield. Its chapters, written by experts in a variety ofdisciplines, are most often authoritative, typically provocative,and often debatable, but always worth reading."
--Stephen W. Raudenbush, Lewis-Sebring Distinguished ServiceProfessor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago

"The roadmap for a new generation of social epidemiologists. Thepublication of this treatise is a significant event in the historyof the discipline."
--Ichiro Kawachi, professor of social epidemiology, Departmentof Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard University

"Methods in Social Epidemiology not only illuminates thedifficult questions that future generations of socialepidemiologists must ask, it also identifies the paths they mustboldly travel in the pursuit of answers, if this excitinginterdisciplinary science is to realize its full potential. Thisbeautifully edited volume appears at just the right moment to exerta profound influence on the field."
--Sherman A. James, Susan B. King Professor of Public PolicyStudies, professor of Community and Family Medicine, professor ofAfrican-American Studies, Duke University