Detroit

 Researchers have worked to delineate the manner in which urban environments reflect broader social processes, such as those creating racially, ethnically and economically segregated communities with vast differences in aspects of the built environment, opportunity structures, social environments, and environmental exposures. Interdisciplinary research is essential to gain an enhanced understanding of the complex relationships between these stressors and protective factors in urban environments and health.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the availability, selection, quality, and price of fresh fruit and vegetables at food stores in four Detroit-area communities: 1) predominately African-American, low socioeconomic position (SEP); 2) racially heterogeneous, low SEP; 3) predominately African-American, middle SEP; and 4) racially heterogeneous, middle SEP.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational survey, conducted fall 2002.
SETTING: Detroit, Michigan

 Patterns of mental health are clearly associated with life circumstances, including educational and economic opportunities, access to safe and supportive neighborhoods, socially structured exposures to stressors and to supportive relationships. In this article, we examine the social and economic correlates of depressive symptoms among African American women residing within a predominantly African American urban neighborhood in Detroit, USA, with relatively few economic resources.

 Background
The purpose of this study was to examine whether the characteristics of retail food stores where African-American women shopped mediated the association between their income and intake of fruits and vegetables. Food store characteristics included store type (supermarket, specialty store, limited assortment store, independent grocer), store location (suburbs, city of Detroit), and perceptions of the selection/quality and affordability of fresh produce for sale.

 Objectives. We evaluated the spatial accessibility of large "chain" supermarkets in relation to neighborhood racial composition and poverty.
Methods. We used a geographic information system to measure Manhattan block distance to the nearest supermarket for 869 neighborhoods (census tracts) in metropolitan Detroit. We constructed moving average spatial regression models to adjust for spatial autocorrelation and to test for the effect of modification of percentage African American and percentage poor on distance to the nearest supermarket.

 Until recently, researchers have focused most of their attention on psychosocial factors that contribute to obesity and related behaviors, such as diet and physical activity.1, 2 However, there is increasing recognition of the important role that environmental factors play in these behaviors.

 PURPOSE: To examine relationships between the neighborhood food environment and fruit and vegetable intake in a multiethnic urban population.
DESIGN: Analysis of cross-sectional survey and observational data.
SETTING: One hundred forty-six neighborhoods within three large geographic communities of Detroit, Michigan.
SUBJECTS: Probability sample of 919 African-American, Latino, and white adults.

 As the body of evidence linking disparities in the health of urban residents to disparate social, economic and environmental contexts grows, efforts to delineate the pathways through which broader social and economic inequalities influence health have burgeoned. One hypothesized pathway connects economic and racial and ethnic inequalities to differentials in stress associated with social and physical environments, with subsequent implications for health.

 The popularity of direct or systematic social observation as a method to evaluate the mechanisms by which neighborhood environments impact health and contribute to health disparities is growing. The development of measures with adequate inter-rater and test-retest reliability is essential for this research. In this paper, based on our experiences conducting direct observation of neighborhoods in Detroit, MI, we describe strategies to promote high inter-rater and test-retest reliability and methods to evaluate reliability.