Children and Neighborhood Context
CHILDREN AND
NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT
Annotated Bibliography
Of Selected Research
Literature
Jackey Elinski, M.A.
Doctoral Student
Sociology Department
State University of New York at Buffalo
Michael P. Farrell, Ph.D
Professor
Sociology Department
State University of New York at Buffalo
Meg Brin: CDHS Child Welfare Administrative Director
Tom Needell: CDHS Child Welfare Trainer
Mike Rowe: CDHS Child Welfare Sr. Trainer
Appointment: September 9, 2002 to December 31, 2002
This project was funded through a partnership between the Center for the Development of Human Services, Buffalo State College Research Foundation and the Sociology Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo (Award: 23599, Project 1021193, Task 2)
Table of Contents
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..1
Annotated Bibliography………………………………………………………………....2
Topic Related Websites……………………………………………………………..….28
References……………………………………………………………………………….29
Databases……………………………………………………………………………..…33
Summary……………………………………………………………………………...…34
Children and Neighborhood Context
Abstract
Evidence that people and families react and behave differently from setting to setting lends support to the idea that neighborhoods play a role in shaping the lives of residents. In the last few years, the impact of neighborhoods on the families that live in them has become a widely studied topic in the social sciences. Much of this research asserts that neighborhoods play a vital role in reproducing the kinds of factors that can leave generation after generation at a distinct social disadvantage.
With this neighborhood context theory in mind, sociologists have paid particular attention to the connection between communities and their influence over children’s development. They have explored areas such as how neighborhood composition affects family processes and parenting styles, how the presence or absence of neighborhood resources affect family and adolescent success, and how the socioeconomic make-up of a neighborhood impacts the community’s degree of social cohesion and how this, in turn, affects adolescent development. And in doing so they have raised important questions about the structure of neighborhoods and the strategies that can be used to combat any ill effects of community influence over the family.
This annotated bibliography is a brief summary of some of the current academic literature that focuses on how neighborhoods and child development. Though it is not intended to present an extensive survey of current empirically-based research on this topic, after a continued review of the academic literature, it will be used to produce a much more comprehensive overview of how neighborhood context influences child and adolescent development.
Aneshensel, Carol S. and Clea A. Sucoff. 1996. “The Neighborhood Context of
Mental Health.” The Journal of Health and Social Behavior 37:293-312.
This article focused on family socioeconomic status and neighborhoods, which are both thought to affect adolescent emotional well-being by regulating exposure to stressors as well as resources. Using a community-based sample of 877 adolescents of diverse socioeconomic status backgrounds in Los Angeles County, the authors examined how structural aspects of neighborhood context affect adolescent emotional well-being. They hypothesized that adolescents’ perceptions of their neighborhoods would affect their mental health outcomes such that youths who perceived their neighborhoods as more threatening or less cohesive would be more likely to display internalizing and externalizing disorders. After interviewing the adolescents and obtaining self-reports regarding depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder as well subjective appraisals of their neighborhoods, the authors concluded that the more threatening one’s neighborhood is perceived to be, the more common the symptoms of depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder. As expected, adolescents living in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods perceived their neighborhoods to be more threatening than did their peers. In addition, they found that depressive symptoms are lowest in neighborhoods with high levels of residential stability and social cohesion.
Key Words: Neighborhood socioeconomic status, adolescent emotional well-being,residential stability, social cohesionBoardman, Jason D. and Stephanie A. Robert. 2000. “Neighborhood Socio-
Economic Status and Perceptions of Self-Efficacy.” Sociological
Perspectives 43:117-147.
This study investigated whether there is a connection between individual levels of self-efficacy and neighborhood socioeconomic status once individual socioeconomic status is controlled for. The authors expected that individuals of the same socioeconomic status background would have different levels of self-efficacy depending on the characteristics of the neighborhoods in they live. High self-efficacy has been associated with positive effects on individuals while low self-efficacy can be a factor in contributing to harmful behaviors. Individual data were examined from Wave One of the Americans’ Changing Lives Survey (ACL) of 1986. Neighborhoods were operationalized as the census tract, block numbering area, or the enumeration district. Individual socioeconomic status was measured by levels of income, assets, education, and employment status. Their hypothesis was supported when the authors found that individuals with the same socioeconomic status generally state different levels of self-efficacy depending on the socioeconomic characteristics of their neighborhoods. In addition, it appears that neighborhood unemployment is as strong a predictor of self-efficacy as is an individual’s own employment status.
Key Words: Self-efficacy, neighborhood socioeconomic status
Bowen, Gary L. and Mimi V. Chapman. 1996. “Poverty, Neighborhood Danger,
Social Support, and the Individual Adaptation among At-Risk Youth in
Urban Areas.” Journal of Family Issues 17: 641-661.
This article examines whether social support and objective and subjective neighborhood danger influences the individual adaptation of at-risk urban youths. The authors hypothesized that social support from neighbors, teachers, parents, and friends would positively contribute to individual adaptation while measures related to neighborhood danger would negatively contribute to individual adaptation. In addition, because of previous research that links poverty and neighborhood danger, they also hypothesized that adolescent students who receive school lunch subsidies would report more objective and subjective danger in their neighborhoods than would their peers who do not receive free or reduced-price school lunches. Data were collected from 525 middle and high school students who were all participants in the Communities In Schools program which identifies students who at risk of school failure and aims to prevent school dropout. Ten measures were used to examine the relationship between neighborhood danger, social support, and individual adaptation. In the first stage of data analysis, t tests were performed to test for differences between students who do and do not receive lunch subsidies. Blockwise hierarchical multiple regressions were then used to compare the relative contribution of demographics, neighborhood danger, and social support in explaining the variation in individual adaptation. Their results supported their hypothesis that students receiving lunch subsidies would report more objective and subjective danger in their neighborhoods. In addition, they found that physical health was positively associated with less objective neighborhood danger and higher emotional support from parents. Furthermore, psychological well-being and adjustment were more greatly associated with higher levels of neighborhood, teacher, and parental support than they were with levels of neighborhood dangers. In addition, the authors suggested that efforts to increase levels of social support may be the most effective measures that can be taken in order to promote the adaptation of at-risk youths.
Key Words: Social support, at-risk youth, individual adaptation, neighborhood dangerBrody, Gene H., et al. 2001. “The Influence of Neighborhood Disadvantage,
Collective Socialization and Parenting on African American Children’s
Affiliation with Deviant Peers.” Child Development 72:1231-1256.
Since prior research has pointed to the fact that neighborhood disadvantage is linked to a child’s tendency to associate with peers who engage in antisocial or delinquent behavior, this study looked at whether residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood promoted affiliation with deviant peers during childhood. To answer this question, the authors used a hierarchical linear model with a multi-site sample of African-American children. Information about 867 African-American families with ten- to twelve-year old children living in Georgia and Iowa was collected using identical research procedures as those used in The Family and Community Health Study (FACHS). The results of this study suggest that gender significantly predicts association with deviant peers; boys were more likely to report having friends who engage in delinquent behavior. In addition, living in a poor neighborhood is associated with a greater likelihood that a child will associate with deviant peers. Furthermore, support was shown for the authors’ hypothesis that among children living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, higher levels of neighborhood collective socialization will lessen the likelihood of association with deviant peers. In addition, children’s reports of nurturant/involved parenting were inversely related to affiliation with deviant peers while harsh/inconsistent parenting was positively associated with children having deviant peers. Notably, these effects were most pronounced for children living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Key Words: Neighborhood disadvantage, collective socialization, deviant peer affiliation, social disorganization theory
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, et al. 1993. “Do Neighborhoods Influence Child and
Adolescent Development?” American Journal of Sociology 99: 353-395.
This study examined how neighborhood and family characteristics affect the development of children and adolescents. The authors hypothesized that neighborhoods would have a greater direct impact on children in their late adolescence than those in early childhood. Furthermore, they hypothesized that school environments, peers, and economic opportunities would be influenced by neighborhoods and would affect developmental outcomes. Using a sample of 895 from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) data set to study outcomes in early childhood, a sample of more than 2,200 fourteen- to nineteen-year-olds from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to study outcomes in late adolescence, and regression analysis, the authors found evidence of neighborhood effects. Both of their data sets provide evidence that children who grow up in affluent neighborhoods do better than children who grow up in low-income neighborhoods even after family-level differences are controlled for. Their analysis lends support to collective socialization theories that suggest that the absence of affluent families in a neighborhood is more detrimental to development than is the presence of low-income families (contangion theories). Specifically, they found significant effects of having affluent neighbors on childhood IQ scores, teenage birthrates, and school leaving that persist even after the socioeconomic characteristics of the family where controlled for. In addition, they suggest that neighborhood effects may be mediated by parenting strategies such as close supervision and monitoring of children and adolescents, and providing in-home learning opportunities.
Key Words: Neighborhood effects, developmental outcomes, collective socialization
Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne, Greg J. Duncan, and J. Lawrence Aber (eds.). 1997.
Neighborhood Poverty: Context and Consequences for Children, Vols. I & II.
New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
This two volume work authored by an array of scholars from a range of disciplines assembled by the Social Science Research Council investigates the influences of neighborhood contexts, in relation to family processes on the development of poor children and adolescents. Volume I presents their findings while Volume II addresses their approach to studying the impact of neighborhoods on child and family outcomes. In particular, Volume I focuses on how neighborhoods influence the educational outcomes and behavioral problems of children and adolescents as well as how family factors may mediate these neighborhood effects. Volume II focuses on the methodological and theoretical issues surrounding the measurement of neighborhood effects. Their general conclusions are that while neighborhoods are often significant predictors of development, family-level conditions have more of an effect on child and adolescent development. In addition, they find that negative effects are the most pronounced during early childhood and late adolescence. Lastly, they find that the presence of middle-class neighbors is associated with greater achievement for adolescents and enhanced cognitive development among young children. However, for African-American males, this may only be true if their middle-class neighbors are also African-American.
Key Words: Neighborhood effects, neighborhood poverty, developmental outcomes
Ceballo, Rosario and Vonnie C. McLoyd. 2002. “Social Support and Parenting in
Poor, Dangerous Neighborhoods.” Child Development 73: 1310-1321.
This study examined how stressful neighborhoods influence the relationship between a mother’s social support and her parenting strategies. The authors hypothesized that more social support would be associated with more nurturant and less punitive parenting strategies and that neighborhood quality would moderate the relation between parenting strategies and social support. Two hundred African-American mothers and their seventh and eighth grade children were interviewed and asked to rate their neighborhood quality, access to emotional and instrumental support, and maternal warmth and punishment. Hierarchical linear analysis provided support for their hypothesis that access to social support had a positive influence on parenting behavior. However, the positive influence of social support was lessened in poorer, high crime neighborhoods. As neighborhood conditions worsened, social support was not strongly linked to lower reliance on punitiveness or higher levels of maternal nurturance.
Key Words: Stressful neighborhoods, parenting strategies, social support
Coleman, James S. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human
Capital.” American Journal of Sociology 94:S94-S120.
In this article, Coleman introduces the concept of "social capital," which unlike financial, physical, and human capital, is embodied in relations among persons. The ways in which these different types of capital influence children's educational success is examined. In particular, Coleman outlines three types of social capital that are believed to exist within families and communities: obligations and expectations, information channels, and social norms. He uses this model of social capital to examine high school drop out rates. Based on findings from the nationwide High School and Beyond study, he finds that children in larger families, children from one-parent families, and children whose mothers do not have college expectations, are more likely to drop out of high school. These findings support Coleman's argument for the importance of social capital in the family as a resource for children. To examine the effects of social capital outside the family, Coleman compares drop out rates in religious schools to those of public and private schools. He finds that Catholic schools have lower drop out rates, which supports his theory that due to close-knit communities, religious schools are higher in social capital. Coleman concludes that social capital both within and outside the family can reduce the probability of dropping out of high school.
Key Words: Theoretical model: social capital, social capital and educational success
Coulton, Claudia J., et al. 2001. “Mapping Residents’ Perceptions of Neighborhood