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Inconsistencies in place definition: How different operational place definitions affect estimates of adolescent smoking and drinking risk.

Brady JE, Weitzman BC

Principal Research Associate, National Development Research Institute, 71 West 23rd Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010, USA. brady@ndri.org

We find that estimates of the prevalence of teenage smoking and drinking in "urban," "suburban," and "rural" areas vary with different definitions of these types of geographic units. Given the salience of youth risk behavior to the public debate, we urge researchers to purposefully choose their definitions of geographic areas and to be explicit about those choices.

Published 29 January 2007 in Health Place, 13(2): 562-8.
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