Citation

Martin G, Gavine A, Inchley J, Currie C. SSM Popul. Health 2017; 3: 335-351.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.03.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Much work in the late 1990s and early 2000s highlighted the emerging role of the neighbourhood social environment in public health research. These works described the influence of neighbourhood social processes on individual health and well-being outcomes and highlighted the need for a better understanding of how we conceptualise and measure the social environment (i.e., Earls & Carlson, 2001; Morrow, 1999, 2001; Yen & Syme, 1999). Overall, the neighbourhood social environment is defined as the social dimensions of the neighbourhoods in which we live (Yen & Syme, 1999). However, the complexity of these social dimensions leads to ambiguity of definitions that creates difficulties in measurement (Earls & Carlson, 2001)... The aim of this systematic review was to identify measures currently available relating to the neighbourhood social environment in research with adolescents, and make recommendations about the future use, development, and application of such measures. Specifically, as a growing number of studies are utilising survey-based measures of the social environment when examining health outcomes, there is a need for future research to assess validity and reliability of existing measures both at the individual (perceived) and neighbourhood (aggregate) level. This systematic review will contribute to the literature by presenting a critical review and evaluation of how the neighbourhood social environment has been measured in studies of adolescents. It is appropriate to critically examine such studies, as the social environment of adolescents is an area of increasing research interest, yet little is known about the reliability and validity of instruments used to assess this or how these concepts are operationalised and theorised. It is clear that questions about the reliability and validity of measures affect the evaluation of study results; therefore this study will provide a framework for the use of such measures in studies of the adolescent social environment....

Language: en