In many studies of school climate, researchers ask teachers a series of questions, and the responses to related questions are averaged or summed to create a scale score for each teacher on each dimension of climate under investigation. Researchers have disagreed, however, about the analysis of such data: Some have utilized the teacher as the… Continue reading A Multilevel, Multivariate Model for Studying School Climate With Estimation Via the EM Algorithm and Application to U.S. High-School Data

This paper explores the relationship between self-esteem, measured five times during a span of eight years, and the educational and occupational attainments of a nationwide sample of over 1600 young men. An overall increase in self-esteem was observed between the start of 10th grade (1966) and a point five years after high school (1974). Surprisingly,… Continue reading Self-Esteem and Educational Attainment: A Longitudinal Analysis

There is growing interest in understanding how food environments affect diet, but characterizing the food environment is challenging. The authors investigated the relation between global diet measures (an empirically derived “fats and processed meats” (FPM) dietary pattern and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)) and three complementary measures of the local food environment: 1) supermarket… Continue reading Associations of the Local Food Environment with Diet Quality–A Comparison of Assessments based on Surveys and Geographic Information Systems: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

This study investigated associations between neighborhood physical and social environments and body mass index in 2,865 participants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) aged 45-84 years and residing in Maryland, New York, and North Carolina. Neighborhood (census tract) environments were measured in non-MESA participants residing in MESA neighborhoods (2000-2002). The neighborhood physical environment score… Continue reading Relation between Neighborhood Environments and Obesity in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

This paper discusses a commonly used test to detect a nonproportional hazard. The test can be viewed as an example of the method of sieves approach to hypothesis testing. In this framework the test can be shown to be consistent against a wide class of alternatives to proportional hazards. However there is a price exacted… Continue reading Testing for a Time Dependent Coefficient in Cox’s Regression Model