Neighborhood Characteristics of Fast Food

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Neighborhood Characteristics of Fast Food
Restaurant Locations Jennifer R. Bonds and Domin
ic Farris Harvard School of Public Health June 2
005 Brisa N. Sanchez M.Sc. And Steven Gortmaker,
PhD
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The Obesogenic Environment

• Obesogenic environments encourage consumption of
  food and/or discourage physical activity (Chisolm
  et al., 1998, Price and Gottesman, 1991
  Stunkard, 1991 Weinsier et al., 1998)
• Studies have shown associations between fast food
  intake and increased BMI and weight gain (French,
  Harnack, and Jeffery, 2000French and Jeffery,
  1998)
• Cost is the most significant predictor of dietary
  choices (Sooman, Macintyre, Anderson, 1993
  Foley, Pollard, 1998 Mackerras, 1997)
  
• Fast food consumption is related to obesity and
  this relationship is strongest among low-income
  individuals (French, Harnack, Jeffrey, 2000
  Jeffrey, French, 1998)

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Fast Food Restaurant Placement

• Easy access to restaurants is a concern for
  customers and businesses strive to meet this
  demand
  
• Business planners consider neighborhood
  demographics when determining the placement of
  new restaurants
  
• Business planners may also consider a wide
  variety of factors including property taxes,
  zoning, and business permits
  
• Neighborhood racial segregation in Chicago

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Research Inquiries

• There are more fast food restaurants per person
  in low income census tracts (excluding census
  tracts in the lowest 10 percentile) than
  middle/high income census tracts
• Ethnic specific restaurants targeted at Blacks
  and Hispanics in majority Black and Hispanic
  census tracts than census tracts of predominately
  other racial/ethnic groups

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Operational Definitions

• Fast food restaurant eating places where
  customers order items and pay before eating and
  where food can be eaten on the premises or taken
  out
• Census tract the unit of measure for the US
  census it is small and its boundaries are drawn
  along visible features such as roads and are
  always nested within counties
• Poverty status income thresholds determined by
  the census bureau based on family size and total
  family income in the last 12 months this value
  changes each year based on inflation

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Operational Definitions

• Housing value an estimate of how much a house
  and lot would sell for if it were for sale
  (excluding properties that were renter occupied)
  
• Shopping area one-half square mile boundaries
  around each census tract
  
• Community area defined by sociologists at the
  University of Chicago during the 1920s, and at
  that time corresponded to neighborhoods there
  are 77 and they are used for political purposes
  by the city of Chicago

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Data Characteristics

• Wealth and Ethnicity in Chicago Community Areas

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Population Density
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Wealth as Median Income
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Wealth as Median Housing Value
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Community Areas by Major Ethnic Group
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Census Tract Characteristics by Ethnicity
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Data Analysis

• Census tract data based on 2000 Census and 2004
  American Housing Survey
  
• Restaurants were categorized by ethnic group
  Black, Hispanic, and other
  
• Used two determinants of wealth median income
  and median housing value
  
• Did not consider census tracts with median income
  and median housing value in the lowest 10
  percentile
  
• Shopping areas where developed
• Used Poisson regression

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Results Restaurants and Wealth

• Income
• Adjusted for commercialization and the percentage
  of renters
  
• The number of restaurants increases as income and
  commercialization increases
  
• The percentage of renters decreases as income and
  commercialization increases
  
• Conclusion Our hypothesis was not supported

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Median Income
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Results Restaurants and Wealth

• Housing Value
• Adjusted for commercialization and the percentage
  of renters
  
• The number of restaurants increases as housing
  value and commercialization increases
  
• The percentage of renters decreases as housing
  value and commercialization increases
  
• Conclusion our hypothesis was not supported

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HousingValue
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Results Black American - targeted Restaurants

• Adjusted for median income, median housing value,
  commercialization, population density, and total
  number of restaurants
  
• There are more Black American - targeted
  restaurants in majority Black census tracts
  compared to census tracts that are majority
  Hispanic and other ethnic groups
• Commercialization, housing value, and the total
  number of restaurants in the census tracts have a
  positive association to the number of Black
  American targeted restaurants
• Conclusion Our hypothesis was supported

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Black American targeted Restaurants and their
Location
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Results Hispanic - targeted Restaurants

• Adjusted for median income, median housing value,
  commercialization, population density, and total
  number of restaurants
  
• There are less Hispanic targeted restaurants in
  majority Hispanic census tracts compared to
  census tracts that are majority Black and other
  ethnic groups
• Commercialization, total number of restaurants,
  housing value and income have negative
  association to the number of Hispanic targeted
  restaurants in census tracts
• Conclusion Our hypothesis was not supported

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Hispanic-targeted Restaurants and their Location
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Limitations

• Limited information on housing value, income, and
  poverty status for some census tracts
  
• Overlap in census tracts???
• Incomplete list of Hispanic and Asian targeted
  restaurants
  
• Omitted information from census tracts with very
  small populations (less than 200 people)

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Implications

• Can be generalized to other large, diverse
  metropolitan areas
  
• Public health interventions in majority Black
  neighborhoods can reflect knowledge of fast food
  restaurant placement
  
• Hispanic targeted fast food restaurant chains are
  not popular among Hispanics
  
• Population within Chicago city limits does not
  differ greatly based on wealth as compared to
  census tracts in the greater Chicago area

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Future Research

• Census tracts within the city limits should be
  compared to census tracts in the greater
  metropolitan area outside the city limits
  
• Asian targeted restaurants should be studied
• Other factors of fast food restaurant placement
  should be studied
  
• Why are more/less in certain areas
• Is the appearance of restaurants in lower income
  areas in response to local demand or does their
  appearance drive demand?
  
• Access

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Acknowledgements

• We would like to thank the following people
• Bryn Austin
• Steve Melly
• Dr. Steven Gortmaker
• Brisa Sanchez, M. Sc.
• Dr. Louise Ryan
• Isabelle Angelouski

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Question Answer