Modeling time-location patterns of inner-city high school students in New York and Los Angeles using a longitudinal approach with generalized estimating equations

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2007 May;17(3):233-47. doi: 10.1038/sj.jes.7500504. Epub 2006 May 31.

Abstract

The TEACH Project obtained subjects' time-location information as part of its assessment of personal exposures to air toxics for high school students in two major urban areas. This report uses a longitudinal modeling approach to characterize the association between demographic and temporal predictors and the subjects' time-location behavior for three microenvironments--indoor-home, indoor-school, and outdoors. Such a longitudinal approach has not, to the knowledge of the authors, been previously applied to time-location data. Subjects were 14- to 19-year-old, self reported non-smokers, and were recruited from high schools in New York, NY (31 subjects: nine male, 22 female) and Los Angeles, CA (31 subjects: eight male, 23 female). Subjects reported their time-location in structured 24-h diaries with 15-min intervals for three consecutive weekdays in each of winter and summer-fall seasons in New York and Los Angeles during 1999-2000. The data set contained 15,009 observations. A longitudinal logistic regression model was run for each microenvironment where the binary outcome indicated the subject's presence in a microenvironment during a 15-min period. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) technique with alternating logistic regressions was used to account for the correlation of observations within each subject. The multivariate models revealed complex time-location patterns, with subjects predominantly in the indoor-home microenvironment, but also with a clear influence of the school schedule. The models also found that a subject's presence in a particular microenvironment may be significantly positively correlated for as long as 45 min before the current observation. Demographic variables were also predictive of time-location behavior: for the indoor-home microenvironment, having an after school job (OR=0.67 [95% confidence interval: 0.54:0.85]); for indoor-school, living in New York (0.42 [0.29:0.59]); and for outdoor, being 16-year-old (0.80 [0.67:0.96]), 17-year-old (0.71 [0.54:0.92]), and having an after school job (1.29 [1.07:1.56]).

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Environmental Monitoring / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Housing
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Los Angeles
  • Male
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • New York City
  • Schools
  • Students*
  • Time Factors
  • Urban Population*