'My neighbourhood is fuzzy, not hard and fast': Individual and contextual associations with perceived residential neighbourhood boundaries among ageing Americans.

Neighborhoods are fluid social and spatial constructs that vary by person and place. How do residential neighborhoods shift as people age? This mixed-method study investigates how perceived neighborhood boundaries and size vary by individual and contextual characteristics. Semi-structured interviews with 125 adults aged 55-92 living in the Minneapolis (Minnesota) metropolitan area suggested that neighborhood boundaries are "fuzzy". Qualitative thematic analysis identified duration of residence and housing stability, race, life-space mobility, social capital, sense of safety, and the built and social environment as key neighborhood determinants. This informed quantitative analyses among 7,811 respondents (mean age 72) from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study who self-reported how many blocks composed their neighborhoods. We tested individual and contextual factors identified in the qualitative results as related to perceived neighborhood size. Three-level gamma regression models showed that being older, white, less educated, lower income, less physically and cognitively healthy, less active, less socially supported, and feeling unsafe were significantly associated with smaller self-reported neighborhood sizes. Further, living in less racially diverse, less dense, and less affluent areas were significantly associated with smaller neighborhoods. The mixed-methods findings deepen understanding of scale in neighborhood-based research, inform urban planning interventions, and help understand what "neighborhood" means among diverse aging Americans.

RESTRICTED DATA MANAGEMENT: THE CURRENT PRACTICE AND THE FUTURE.

Many organizations across the world that manage restricted data have adapted the Five Safes framework (safe data, safe projects, safe people, safe setting, safe output) for their management of restricted and confidential data. While the Five Safes have been well integrated throughout the data life cycle, organizations encounter several challenges with regard to safe data management. In this paper, we review current practices for restricted data management, and discuss challenges and future directions. We focus on data use agreements, disclosure risk review, and training. In the future, organizations managing restricted data may need proactively to take into consideration reducing inequalities in access to scientific data, preventing unethical use of data, and managing various types of data.

BEYOND LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND SECURITY CONTROLS FOR ACCESSING CONFIDENTIAL SURVEY DATA IN THE UNITED STATES: ENGAGING DATA USERS IN DATA PROTECTION.

With growing demand for data reuse and open data within the scientific ecosystem, protecting the confidentialy of survey data and privacy of data subjects is increasingly important. Doing so requires more than legal procedures and technological controls; it requires social and behavioral intervention. In this research note, we delineate the disclosure risks of various types of survey data (e.g., longitudinal data, social network data, sensitive information, biomarkers, and geographic data), the current motivation for data reuse, and challenges to data protection. Despite rigorous efforts to protect data, there are still threats to protection of confidentiality in microdata. Unintentional data breaches, protocol violations, and data misuse are observed even in well-established restricted data access systems, indicating that the systems may all rely heavily on trust. Creating and maintaining that trust is critical to secure data access. We suggest four ways of building trust; User-Centered Design Practices; Promoting Trust for Protecting Confidential Data; General Training in Research Ethics; and Specific Training in Data Security Protocols, with an example of a new project 'Researcher Passport' by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Continuous user-focused improvements in restricted data access systems are necessary so that we promote a culture of trust among the research and data user community, train both in the general topic of responsible research and in the specific requirements of these systems, and offer systematic and holistic solutions.

Racial Segregation and Cognitive Function Among Older Adults in the United States: Findings From the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study.

OBJECTIVES: Residential segregation is one of the fundamental features of health disparities in the United States. Yet little research has examined how living in segregated metropolitan areas is related to cognitive function and cognitive decline with age. We examined the association between segregation at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level and trajectories of age-related cognitive function. METHOD: Using data from Black and White older adults in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (n = 18,913), we employed linear growth curve models to examine how living in racially segregated MSAs at baseline, measured by the degree of non-Hispanic Black (NHB) isolation and NHB dissimilarity, was associated with trajectories of age-related cognitive function and how the associations varied by race and education. RESULTS: Living in MSAs with greater levels of isolation was associated with lower cognitive function (b = -0.093, p < .05) but was not associated with rates of change in cognitive decline with age. No effects of living in isolated MSAs were found for those with at least a high school education, but older adults with less than a high school education had lower cognitive function in MSAs with greater isolation (b = -0.274, p < .05). The degree of dissimilarity was not associated with cognitive function. The association between segregation and cognitive function did not vary by race. DISCUSSION: Metropolitan segregation was associated with lower cognitive function among older adults, especially for those with lower education living in racially isolated MSAs. This suggests complex associations between individual socioeconomic status, place, and cognitive health.

Weather Woes? Exploring Potential Links between Precipitation and Age-Related Cognitive Decline.

Rain, snow, or ice may discourage older adults from leaving their homes with potential consequences for social isolation, decreased physical activity, and cognitive decline. This study is the first to examine potential links between annual precipitation exposure and cognitive function in a large population-based cohort of older Americans. We examined the association between precipitation (percent of days with snow or rain in the past year) and cognitive function in 25,320 individuals aged 45+ from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study. Linear mixed models assessed the relationship between precipitation and cognitive function, as well as rates of change in cognitive function with age. We found a non-linear relationship between precipitation and cognitive function. Compared to those exposed to infrequent precipitation (less than 20% of days with rain/snow in the past year), cognitive function was higher among older adults experiencing moderately frequent precipitation (20-40% of annual days with precipitation). However, beyond more than about 45% of days with precipitation in the past year, there was a negative association between precipitation and cognitive function, with faster rates of cognitive decline with age. These exploratory findings motivate further research to better understand the complex role of precipitation for late-life cognitive function.

College attendance type and subsequent alcohol and marijuana use in the U.S.

BACKGROUND: College attendance is a risk factor for frequent and heavy drinking and marijuana initiation but less is known about the extent to which risk varies by type of college attendance and across age. METHODS: Using panel data of young adults who were high school seniors in 1990-1998 from the Monitoring the Future study (n = 13,123), we examined the associations between college attendance at age 19/20 (4-year college full-time, other college, and non-attendance) and subsequent alcohol and marijuana use at age 21/22, 25/26, 29/30 and 35. Inverse propensity score weighting was used to balance the three college groups on pre-existing differences when examining associations with substance use outcomes. RESULTS: Compared to non-attendance, attending a 4-year college full-time was associated with significantly greater odds of binge drinking at age 21/22 (aOR = 1.20) and 25/26 (aOR = 1.12) and lower odds of alcohol abstinence at age 35 (aOR = 0.51). Similarly, other college attendance was associated with greater odds of binge drinking at age 21/22 (aOR = 1.08) and 25/26 (aOR = 1.04) and lower odds of abstinence at age 35 (aOR = 0.70). Four-year college full-time attendance was associated with greater odds of marijuana use at age 21/22 (aOR = 1.07) and 25/26 (aOR = 1.02) but lower odds at age 29/30 (aOR = 0.99). Other college attendance was associated with lower odds of marijuana use at age 25/26 (aOR = 0.98) and 29/30 (aOR = 0.97). Marijuana use at age 35 did not differ by college attendance. CONCLUSIONS: College attendance may confer elevated risk of substance use post-college. The magnitude and duration of risk vary by type of college attendance and substance.

Age, period and cohort effects in frequent cannabis use among US students: 1991-2018.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: As the legal status of cannabis changes across the United States and modes of administration expand, it is important to examine the potential impact on adolescent cannabis use. This study aimed to assess changes in prevalence of frequent cannabis use in adolescents in the United States and how far this varies by age and cohort. DESIGN: Analysis of Monitoring the Future, a nationally representative annual survey of 8th-, 10th- and 12th-grade students in the United States conducted from 1991 to 2018. SETTING: In-school surveys completed by US adolescents. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1 236 159 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders; 51.5% female, 59.6% non-Hispanic white, 12.3% non-Hispanic black, 13.4% Hispanic and 14.7% other race/ethnicity. MEASUREMENTS: Frequent cannabis use (FCU), defined as six or more occasions in the past 30 days, stratified by sex, race/ethnicity and parental education. FINDINGS: FCU among US adolescents increased over the study period; the peak in 2010-18 was 11.4% among 18-year-old students. This increase was best explained by both period and cohort effects. Compared with respondents in 2005, adolescents surveyed in 2018 had period effects in FCU that were 1.6 times greater. Adolescents in younger birth cohorts (those born > 1988) had a lower increase in FCU than those born prior to 1988. Results were consistent across sex, parent education and race/ethnicity, with period effects indicating increasing FCU after 2005 and cohort effects indicating a lower magnitude of increase in more recent birth cohorts. Age and parental education disparities in FCU have increased over time, whereas race/ethnicity differences have converged over time; black students were 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.64-0.70] times as likely to use cannabis frequently as white students from 1991 to 2000, and 1.03 (95% CI = 0.98-1.09) times as likely from 2011 to 2018 (P-value for time interaction < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of frequent cannabis use (FCU) increased from 1991 to 2018 among older adolescents in the United States. Racial/ethnic differences in FCU converged, whereas parental education differences have diverged.

Frequent Binge Drinking Among US Adolescents, 1991 to 2015.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Scientific understanding of the forces involved in the decades-long decline of adolescent alcohol use in the United States is limited. This study examines specific changes in US adolescent frequent binge drinking (FBD) by age (variation due to maturation), period (variation across time that does not covary across age), and cohort (variation common to adolescents born around the same time). METHODS: We analyzed nationally representative, multicohort data from 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students sampled between 1991 and 2015 from Monitoring the Future (n = 1 065 022) to estimate age, period, and cohort effects on adolescents' FBD (defined as ≥2 occasions of ≥5 drinks in a row during the past 2 weeks). Age-Period-Cohort analyses were stratified by sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). Trends in the associations between demographics and FBD across historical time were examined. RESULTS: Decreases in FBD during adolescence were attributable to period and cohort effects independent of age variations. Birth cohorts between 1985 and 1990 showed the greatest decline in FBD. The Age-Period-Cohort results were consistent across sex, race/ethnicity, and SES, with the exception of slower declines seen among African American adolescents compared with white adolescents since 2007. We also found convergence in FBD by sex and divergence by SES. CONCLUSIONS: Recent declines in adolescent FBD have been driven by period and cohort effects. Attention is warranted for the slower declines in FBD seen among African American adolescents since 2007, a narrowing difference by sex, and a growing gap by SES.

Longitudinal Predictors of Homelessness: Findings from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-97.

Homeless youth represent a vulnerable and understudied population. Little research has prospectively identified factors that may place youth at risk for experiencing homelessness. The current study utilizes data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-97 (NLSY-97) to examine predictors of experiencing homelessness as a young adult (before age 25). The NLSY-97 includes a nationally representative sample of 8,984 youth. Data were first collected from these youth when they were between the ages of 12 to 18 years. The current study examined whether individual and family risk factors reported during adolescence predict homelessness by the age of 25. The findings showed that multiple runaway episodes, non-traditional family structure, lower educational attainment, and parental work limitations due to health increased the risk of homelessness. A permissive parenting style and being Hispanic protected against homelessness. This study offers unique insight into risk and protective factors for youth homelessness, and has important clinical implications.

Migration and Marriage: Modeling the Joint Process.

BACKGROUND: Previous research on inter-relations between migration and marriage has relied on overly simplistic assumptions about the structure of dependency between the two events. However, there is good reason to posit that each of the two transitions has an impact on the likelihood of the other, and that unobserved common factors may affect both migration and marriage, leading to a distorted impression of the causal impact of one on the other. OBJECTIVE: We will investigate relationships between migration and marriage in the United States using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. We allow for inter-dependency between the two events and examine whether unobserved common factors affect the estimates of both migration and marriage. METHODS: We estimate a multi-process model in which migration and marriage are considered simultaneously in regression analysis and there is allowance for correlation between disturbances; the latter feature accounts for possible endogeneity between shared unobserved determinants. The model also includes random effects for persons, exploiting the fact that many people experience both events multiple times throughout their lives. RESULTS: Unobserved factors appear to significantly influence both migration and marriage, resulting in upward bias in estimates of the effects of each on the other when these shared common factors are not accounted for. Estimates from the multi-process model indicate that marriage significantly increases the hazard of migration while migration does not affect the hazard of marriage. CONCLUSIONS: Omitting inter-dependency between life course events can lead to a mistaken impression of the direct effects of certain features of each event on the other.