Dissertation Abstracts

These are abstracts of approved dissertations

Completed Dissertations
I. Urban Health
Della A. Campbell, PhD 2007
II. Urban Educational Policy
Franklin Dickerson Turner

Approved Dissertation Proposals
I. Urban Environment
Michael Brown
Joseph S. Buga
Aditi Sarkar
Caryn S. Yaacov
Maria Beatriz Yabur
II. Urban Health
Japheth Jeff Kaluyu
Sallie Anne Porter

Completed Dissertations

I. Urban Health

Della A. Campbell, PhD 2007

Abstract:The impact of combined maternal alcohol and tobacco use on low birth weight in singleton pregnancies: a population based study in the US, 2003

Background: The Black-White disparity in birth outcomes in the United States remains embedded. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines low birth weight (LBW) as birthweight less than 2500 grams/5.5 pounds or below the 10th percentile for gestational age. LBW is a frequent marker of poor maternal/infant health outcome. A reduction in the incidence of LBW is a major public health initiative in the US. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the magnitude of risk for low birth weight, defined in this study as neonatal birth weight less than 2500 grams, in relation to combined maternal alcohol and tobacco use. The impact of the combined risk taking behaviors was explored to determine their role in contributing to the racial disparity in low birth weight within the context of the Black woman's cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage and exposure to chronic stressors of the urban environment.

Methods: Design: A population-based study of singleton births born to US -born Black and White women delivered in the USA in 2003. Sample: The natality files produced by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Questions: This study addressed the following questions: (1) What is the incidence and relative risk for LBW in relation to combined maternal alcohol and tobacco use? (2) Does LBW increase with the advancing maternal age of the Black woman? (3) Are there any similarities in maternal age, highest educational attainment by the mother, or population of the place of maternal residence within the Black and White LBW groups reporting the highest incidence of tobacco and/or alcohol use? Theoretical Framework: the weathering hypothesis described by Arlene Geronimus which posits the health of African-American women may begin to deteriorate in early adulthood as a physical consequence of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage, served as the underpinning for exploring the study variables.

Analysis: Secondary analysis of this data set was performed with SAS V9. Logistic regression was used to calculate the relative risk of the investigational variable (LBW) while controlling for race, age, smoking and drinking status, and geographic place of residence (city population). Results: Black non-Hispanic women who were both tobacco and alcohol users were 3.2 times more likely to have a LBW neonate and White non-Hispanic women were 2.9 times more likely to have a LBW neonate than non-users. Despite the increased odds for having a LBW infant with concomitant substance abuse of tobacco and alcohol, the rate in the Black women was 2.2 times more than the White women. This risk taking behavior clearly increases the incidence of LBW, but affects both races in a similar fashion. Future Research: The Black-White disparity in low birth weight is a complex research question with little consensus regarding the exact medical etiology or the pathways through which social environmental factors contribute to the disparity.

This dissertation, in light of the support of the major construct of the weathering hypothesis of advanced maternal aging of the Black woman, suggests that the direction for future research must examine the complex interplay of the multiple factors of the environment, genetics, and stress. Interdisciplinary collaboration among health researchers, urban planners, and policy experts will be the key to understanding what measures must be employed to eliminate the Black-White disparity in low birth weight.

II. Urban Educational Policy

Franklin Dickerson Turner

Defended successfully December 2007

Abstract: Racial Differences in Developing Fluency: The Effects of Two Fluency Oriented Reading Approaches

This dissertation focuses on the effectiveness of two fluency-oriented reading approaches that have been successfully utilized to improve the reading fluency of second-grade students. This research evaluates these approaches to see if they are equally beneficial for Asian, black, Latino, and white students. Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (Stahl & Heubach, 2005), the first approach examined, incorporates the repeated reading of a grade-level text over the course of an academic week. This approach to reading is scaffolded by expert readers. The second approach incorporates Wide-Reading Instruction (Kuhn, 2004/2005), which also utilizes scaffolding by expert readers, but three different grade-level texts are read each academic week. The results indicate that both Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (FORI) and Wide-Reading Instruction (WRI) are useful schemes for reading instruction with second-grade students in urban schools. This study found that black and Latino second-grade students in the FORI and control condition made significant improvements in word efficiency. The trend for Asian and whites second-grade students in the WRI condition and black and Latino second-grade students in the FORI condition was an increase in reading comprehension relative to the gains made by students in the control group classrooms.

Approved Dissertation Proposals

I. Urban Environment

Michael Brown

Abstract: Learning from Hope VI: Revitalizing Distressed Public Housing in Camden, New Jersey

In its Human Rights Charter the United Nations declared that decent and affordable housing is a fundamental human right. The United States affirmed that right in its 1949 Housing Act, yet in 1992, the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing (NCSDPH) Final Report declared that approximately six percent of the nation's public housing stock was so severely distressed they were unsuitable for habitation and required a special program of rehabilitation to make them habitable. This report further stated that distressed developments were located mostly in similarly distressed inner-city urban neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods the vast majority of residents are people of African descent (African Americans).

The HOPE VI program was created in 1992 by the federal government to transform these severely distressed developments into mixed-income housing developments that are physically appealing, and which do not concentrate poverty, through partnership arrangements with local, state and federal stakeholders. The goal is to remove the severe social and physical distress and stigma that public housing residents face. The HOPE VI program has given about $6.2 billion to public housing authorities to date to redevelop more than 300 severely distressed developments nationwide. Redevelopment involves a three-fold strategy, namely, a radical redesign of the development's physical environment, altering the demography of the resident population by creating mixed-income developments, and promoting economic self-sufficiency among residents.

In light of this large-scale expenditure, to what extent, if any, has HOPE VI impacted the economic and social lives of public housing residents? This study will use the three HOPE VI projects in Camden, New Jersey as case studies to explore this question. The study will explore the impact of the HOPE VI program on the lives of public housing resident in the key areas of poverty deconcentration, physical improvements, and self-sufficiency. The key components of this study will be a survey residents to obtain residents' perspectives and in-depth interviews with key HOPE VI staff.

Joseph S. Buga

Abstract: Late 20th and Early 21st Century Light Rail Projects and Changing Development Patterns In the United States

Since 1985 over 20 metropolitan areas in the United States have built new light rail systems at a cost of over $50 billion, primarily in public funding. During about the same time period, New Urbanism, Smart Growth and Transit Oriented Development, have emerged as new land use planning theories. This research will address how these theories have been incorporated into the planning of light rail systems and how development patterns at several light rail sites have adhered to these theories. A review of secondary sources on planning and transportation will be used to assemble an up-to-date compendium on light rail sites in the United States. Case studies will be prepared on three light rail systems, The Hudson Bergen Light Rail, The Dallas Area Rapid Transit System and the San Diego Trolley.

Each case study will include information gathered from an extensive review of the planning documents specific to the project. Information on project planning will also be supplement through interviews with transit and government officials. A New Theories Scorecard will be developed and used in assessing how the theories are incorporated in major residential and commercial development projects near the light rail lines. Information on specific projects will be supplemented through interviews with project developers. In addition, a Geographic Information System (GIS) study will be used to determine the changes in residential development patterns over the last several decades in the case study cities.

The anticipated findings of the study are that the principles central to these new planning theories are included in early planning documents and over time have become more prevalent. The level to which principles are incorporated into planning documents varies significantly by project. In many instances, the actual developments incorporate many principles; however, in other instances the developments include attributes diametrically opposed to the theories. The residential development patterns in center city areas of the light rail projects have changed significantly and major changes have occurred in some areas outside center cities, while in other areas outside center cities, little or no change in development patterns has occurred.

Aditi Sarkar

Abstract: Accessibility in Metropolitan Transportation Planning: Constructing and Geo-Visualizing a GIS-based Measure

Since the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991, Metropolitan Transportation Organizations (MPOs) in the United States have two new responsibilities. First, MPOs prioritize transportation projects and recommend which projects should or should not receive funding. An important factor in this decision is how the project will improve accessibility. As there is no universally acknowledged definition of accessibility, I propose to determine how accessibility is being considered (and possibly measured) in this critical decision making process by MPOs. To meet this objective I will conduct case studies of three MPOs.

Second, ISTEA requires that MPOs include stakeholders, and work collaboratively, to give input in the selection of transportation projects. Both MPO staff and stakeholders need to have an understanding of how changes in accessibility will occur once a transportation project is built. I propose to develop a measure or a set of measures of accessibility, based on existing models, that is suitable for an MPO to use in order to convey accessibility information to its stakeholders using geo-visualization. The data sets used for this research will be those that MPO already possess and those that are readily available.

This inter-disciplinary research will uses both qualitative and quantitative methods in a way that has not been combined before to develop a tool for planning support.

Caryn S. Yaacov

Abstract: Dynamics of School Playground Use in Low-Income Neighborhoods: Four Case Studies from Newark, New Jersey

Substantial evidence suggests that children in low-income, central-city neighborhoods are deprived of opportunities for outdoor play because of the deteriorating quality of the urban environment. A particularly attractive solution to the dearth of outdoor play space is the rebuilding of existing school playgrounds: the space is readily available, designated, and managed. Given the often-impoverished quality of the supporting public infrastructure in which inner-city schools are sited, the question arises as to whether local elementary school playgrounds can be effectively used to compensate for the general lack of children's outdoor play spaces. Using an ecological framework, this study investigates the dynamics of political, socioeconomic, and environmental attributes that mediate the use of school playgrounds by children.

This study investigates the relationships among institutional, neighborhood, and individual characteristics and how these factors influence children's use of school playground facilities. The strategy of renovating school playgrounds as a response to the present crisis of physical inactivity among youth tends not to consider the role of social context in playground use; the current work seeks to remedy this deficiency. The objective is to draw attention to the need to consider the larger social and political landscape in which playground use takes place when formulating initiatives to encourage increased levels of physical activity among children.

Four cases were selected from Newark's elementary schools. Three schools are recent recipients of newly renovated playgrounds by the same non-profit organization. The fourth school lacks play equipment but has playground markings. The study population was all fifth graders in each school, with the exception of special education children. The study methods include questionnaires administered to children and their parents; semi-structured interviews conducted with principals, fifth-grade teachers, physical education teachers, and directors of after-school programs; and observations of how children use the playground during recess. Neighborhood socio-demographic data and crime data were obtained from official sources.

Maria Beatriz Yabur

Abstract: Noxious Odor in Residential Environments: Coping in Reactive and Proactive Ways in Three New Jersey Communities

Currently little is known about the effects of noxious odor on people's daily lives. This lack of knowledge is apparent in the rules and regulations that control odors. This research addresses this lack of knowledge by looking at the effects of current pockets of noxious odor on residents' quality of life in two residential areas in northern New Jersey. This research examines the coping process residents adopt to deal with this environmental annoyance. In this study I propose two ways in which residents cope with odor: reactive (residents try to keep noxious odors out from their homes and modify their activities to avoid the odor) and proactive (residents take actions to eliminate the source of odor).

Two models were developed to study the determinants of these types of coping; both include socioeconomic characteristics. The variables in the model of reactive coping include: perception of odor, community attachment, and physical discomfort. The variables in the model of proactive coping include: knowledge of the complaint process, feeling helpless, and felling hopeless in addition to the already mentioned in reactive behavior. An estimated 100 in-person interviews will be conducted at in people's homes. The data will be analyzed with a multivariate analysis model to predict the likelihood of coping strategies according to the two models. The study's results will contribute to the growing body of literature on the sense of smell in the social science and to possible improvements in the enforcement of odor regulations.

II. Urban Health

Japheth Jeff Kaluyu

Abstract: Determinants of risky sexual behaviors of Kenyan immigrant men in the US and during visits in Kenya

Problem: The study will use mixed methods to examine the social determinants of risky sexual behaviors of Kenyan male immigrants in the US and during visits in Kenya. The study has five qualitative research questions and four quantitative research hypotheses. The qualitative research questions are: 1) What are the social factors that promote risky sexual behaviors for HIV/AIDS among Kenyan males?, 2) What cultural values, beliefs and practices support risky sexual behaviors among Kenyan males?, 3) How do changes in the social and cultural contexts of Kenyan male immigrants affect their thoughts and behaviors about HIV/AIDS risk?, 4) What are the effects of urbanization and migration in risky sexual behaviors of Kenyan males?, and 5) What are the factors that create variability in sexual behaviors of Kenyan male immigrants? The four hypotheses are: 1) Attitude towards condom use differs between Kenya and the US, 2) Condom use behavior with primary and casual sex partners differ between Kenya and the US, 3) Sexual behaviors with casual partners differ between Kenya and the US, and 4) Demographic factors (income, education) affect risky sexual behaviors in both US and Kenya.

Conceptual Framework: The study will utilize Cultural Materialism (CM) (Harris, 1979) as the conceptual model. The idea behind the CM approach is that the human social lifestyle in communities is perceived as a response to the practical problems they encounter in daily life. The social organizations that include politics and economy (social structure), ideological, and symbolic aspects (superstructure), are modified by a combination of related social variables, biological needs of society, and production and reproduction (infrastructure) (Harris, 1996).

Methodology: The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative component consists of a demographic survey with questions specific to condom behaviors and sexual behaviors with primary and casual partners, and one instrument, the Sexual Risk Cognitions Questionnaire (SRCQ) (Shah, Thorton, & Burgess, 1997) to determine attitudes towards condom use. These demographic questions and instrument will be administered twice to elicit differences in attitudes and use of condoms and sexual behaviors in the US and during visits in Kenya. The qualitative component consists of individual interviews of participants by telephone to determine the influence of sociocultural changes associated with migration and urbanization in sexual behaviors.

Sample: The quantitative sample will comprise of 100 Kenyan males who meet the following criteria: a) between 18 and 65 years, b) self-identify as first generation Kenyan immigrant living in the US, c) have visited Kenya at least once , and d) able to read and write in English. Purposive and snowball sampling will be used. The qualitative sample of 20 participants will be drawn from those who completed the quantitative survey.

Data Analysis: Quantitative data will be analyzed using SPSS version 14 for descriptive and inferential analysis. Pearson correlation, ANOVA, paired t-test, marginal homogeneity test, McNemar test, and chi-square will be used to determine the relationship between various variables. Interview data will be analyzed for emerging domains and recurrent patterns from which themes will be drawn.

Sallie Anne Porter

Abstract: Safe haven infant protection: incidence of use and characteristics of surrendered infants and relinquishing user

In 1999, Texas became the first state to enact Safe Haven Infant Protection legislation—a response to the discovery of 13 discarded abandoned (three dead) infants in a short period of time near Houston (Williams-Mbengue, 2001). Safe Haven Laws are variously-titled state-level laws that ensure infant safety and permit infants to be surrendered to designated persons and/or at designated places in a generally anonymous fashion with prescribed limits on prosecution. As of February 2008, all 50 states have enacted varying forms of Safe Haven legislation with approximately 1200 infants being surrendered under Safe Haven laws.

Public policies and multi-disciplinary response systems (e.g., child welfare, health, public safety) have been developed in each of the states to formulate and implement Safe Haven laws. Some states have allocated substantial public funding to promote and support Safe Haven laws. Safe Haven Infant Protection laws appear to assume that there is an overlap in the population of potentially discarded babies and potentially Safe Haven infants. Yet, even the relationship between neonaticide and discarded infants is a matter of debate (National Abandoned Infants Resource Center, 2004; Pollak & Hittle, 2003; Schwartz & Isser, 2000). There is little descriptive information on the population of Safe Haven babies and relinquishing Safe Haven users to either support or reject this assumption.

The study design is a descriptive analysis using a convenience sample from multiple locales and sources. First, an estimate of the number of infants surrendered under Safe haven laws will be developed using data obtained via a query to Governors of all 50 states as well as from government reports, media reports, and non-profit reports. Second, a data base combining approximately 240 infant/user cases will be built. The following research questions will be addressed by the study: (1) How many infants have been surrendered under Safe Haven laws? (2) What are the characteristics of Safe Haven babies? (3) What are the characteristics of relinquishing Safe Haven users? (4) What are the patterns of Safe Haven use? (5) Do the characteristics of Safe Haven babies support the assumption that discarded infants and Safe Haven babies have characteristics in common?

Joint PhD Program in Urban Systems