Madhumita Ghosh Dastidar

Bio: Madhumita Ghosh Dastidar is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Public health & Unrest. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 2 publications receiving 6 citations.

Alcohol Outlets, Gonorrhea, and the Los Angeles Civil Unrest

Abstract: This study tests the effect of neighborhood changes on gonorrhea rates. Prior studies that indicate gonorrhea rates are associated with alcohol outlet density and neighborhood deterioration have been cross-sectional and cannot establish causality. After the 1992 Civil Unrest in Los Angeles, 270 alcohol outlets surrendered their licenses due to arson and vandalism thus providing a natural experiment. We geocoded all reported gonorrhea cases from 1988 to 1996 in LA County, all annually licensed alcohol outlets, and all properties damaged as a result of the civil unrest. We ran individual growth models to examine the independent effects of changes in alcohol outlets and damaged buildings on gonorrhea. The individual growth model explained over 90% of the residual variance in census tract gonorrhea rates. After the civil unrest, a unit decrease in the number of alcohol outlets per mile of roadway was associated with 21 fewer gonorrhea cases per 100,000 (p<.01) in tracts affected by the Unrest compared to those not affected. Neighborhood alcohol outlets appear to be significantly associated with changes in gonorrhea rates. The findings suggest that efforts to control sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea and HIV, should address contextual factors that facilitate high-risk behaviors and disease transmission.

Determinants of Social Capital Indicators at the Neighborhood Level

Abstract: OBJECTIVE Neighborhoods represent a unique level of analysis where social and material determinants of social capital may be lodged. The 1992 civil unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict provided an opportunity to determine if a change in the material environment (i.e., the loss of off-sale alcohol outlets) resulted in a subsequent change in a potential indicator of social capital-civic engagement-as measured by voting rates. METHOD Longitudinal analyses of voting rates between 1990 and 1996 for the 480 census tracts affected by the civil unrest were conducted. Tracts that lost and did not lose off-sale alcohol outlets were compared using piecewise hierarchical models that accounted for both time-varying and census-tract-level confounders, as well as for spatial autocorrelation. RESULTS In the post-unrest period, the increase in voting was significantly greater in tracts where there was a loss of alcohol outlets (beta = 0.393, p < .05). Findings remained after taking into account time-varying effects of the changes in ethnicity, gender, and age; and baseline effects of voting, potential for social organization, outlet density, and deprivation. The loss of alcohol outlets was associated with an average 3.0% increase in voting rate in the postunrest period, translating into an average increase of 50-212 voters per tract, depending on the size of the tract. CONCLUSIONS Loss of off-sale alcohol outlets in the 1992 civil unrest was associated with increased voting at the census tract level. Findings support the concept that loss of alcohol outlets in the neighborhood environment may contribute to the development of social capital, possibly through social network expansion.

Reducing alcohol-related HIV risk in katutura, Namibia: Results from a multilevel intervention with bar owners, servers, patrons, and community members

Abstract: The AIDSTAR-One project is receiving funds from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the U.S. Agency for International Development to conduct a 2.5-year demonstration project in Namibia -- a country with high HIV prevalence and heavy alcohol use. A growing body of epidemiological and social science research links alcohol consumption with the sexual behaviors that put people at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Formative research was undertaken to understand how bar owners staff patrons and community members perceive the risks and benefits of alcohol consumption and to solicit ideas about approaches for mitigating the negative effects of alcohol. The results of the formative research are reported here.

Making the Case for Place: An Exploration of Urbanization Measures on a Model of Social Capital and U.K. Crime Rates

Abstract: MAKING THE CASE FOR PLACE: AN EXPLORATION OF URBANIZATION MEASURES ON A MODEL OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND U.K. CRIME RATES Kyshawn K. Smith Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Dr. Ruth A. Triplett Studies of social capital and crime have become quite popular in recent history, and a plethora of empirical tests have sought to clarify relationships between the two variables. However, most of these studies center on communities in the United States, and often overlook the many differentiating features between urban and rural communities that would affect such models. Reasons offered for such skew in the past and current research on this subject are middling at best, and largely cite either a lack of availability in data for crime and social capital in non-urban communities, or questionable accuracy for what data is accessible. This dissertation sought to address both the lack of research on social capital effects on crime rates in communities outside of the U.S., and the lack of consideration of urbanization level in such research. Hypotheses derived under these general goals were tested using a combination of multivariate regression analyses and structural equation modeling on datasets provided by the Office of National Statistics (U.K.) and the British Social Attitudes Survey.

Measuring the Eects of the Community on Education Outcomes Using Natural Experiments

Abstract: Author(s): Brazil, Noli Bernard | Advisor(s): Hout, Michael | Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of environmental conditions on graduation and dropout rates in the United States. Neighborhood effects studies are not uncommon, however they typically fail to account for serious selection issues that potentially bias results. The contribution of this dissertation is to offer an alternative approach, natural experiments, to deal with such methodological problems. The dissertation consists of one theoretical chapter and two analytical chapters. In chapter one, I establish the econometric difficulties of estimating neighborhood effects and outline how a natural experiment can obviate these problems if applied correctly. This chapter sets up the rest of my dissertation, which includes two empirical chapters using major urban riots and county mass layoffs as natural experiments.In chapter one, I describe the econometric difficulties of estimating neighborhood effects within the context of youth educational well-being. I outline the three levels of selection bias, individual, family and school, that researchers normally confront when attempting to examine the effects of community conditions on education outcomes. While most studies attempt to minimize individual and family level bias, they often neglect to account for school level context. Doing so will lead to biased results because model parameters will fail to reflect the lack of independence between units due to clustering within schools and the deep selection issues caused by the interwoven relationship between neighborhoods and schools. I then outline the conditions under which a natural experiment can solve these problems. This chapter sets the stage for the two empirical articles that make up the rest of my dissertation.In the first analytical chapter, I examine the effects of large urban riot shocks to city wide conditions on aggregate dropout rates. Using decennial census data, I examine the 1960s civil rights riots on city level school non enrollment rates. I find that the 1960s urban riots had negative short- and long-term consequences on school enrollment rates. In order to test the robustness of these results to a more contemporary setting, I estimate the effect of the 1992 Los Angeles riots on city and census tract level dropout rates. I find evidence of a short-term effect, but no long-term impact.In the second empirical chapter, I estimate the effects of diminished county conditions due to mass layoff occurrences in the U.S from 1996 to 2010 on county level graduation and dropout rates. Although I find no evidence of a negative single year effect on schooling persistence rates, I uncover lagged and cumulative effects. Specifically, I find that a large two-year lagged shock has a negative effect on current graduation rates. I also find that minor and large four-year average shocks have a significant effect on graduation and dropout rates. These results indicate that point-in-time measurements may not capture the temporal effects of neighborhood disadvantage, especially for processes like schooling persistence that may not be sensitive to minor, short-term shocks.

Stress and Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Neighborhood Context

Abstract: Neighborhoods play a central role in health and mental health, particularly during disasters and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined changes in psychological distress following the pandemic, and the potential role of neighborhood conditions among 244 residents of New Orleans, Louisiana. Using modified linear regression models, we assessed associations between neighborhood characteristics and change in psychological distress from before to during the pandemic, testing effect modification by sex and social support. While higher density of offsite alcohol outlets (β = 0.89; 95% CI: 0.52, 1.23), assault rate (β = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.24), and walkable streets (β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.07) in neighborhoods were associated with an increase in distress, access to neighborhood parks (β = −0.03; 95% CI: −0.05, −0.01), collective efficacy (β = −0.23; 95% CI: −0.35, −0.09), and homicide rate (β = −1.2; 95% CI: −1.8, −0.6) were associated with reduced distress related to the pandemic. These relationships were modified by sex and social support. Findings revealed the important but complicated relationship between psychological distress and neighborhood characteristics. While a deeper understanding of the neighborhoods’ role in distress is needed, interventions that target neighborhood environments to ameliorate or prevent the residents’ distress may be important not only during crisis situations.