Collective Efficacy Predicting Experience of Material Hardship in Low-Income Neighborhoods

Abstract

Research suggests that neighborhood processes, such as collective efficacy, have a meaningful impact on families and are potentially modifiable factors that can be targeted by interventions to improve outcomes for residents of low-income neighborhoods. The present study examines relationships between the two component parts of collective efficacy (neighborhood social cohesion and informal social control) and three measures of material hardship (food security, housing security, and unmet medical need), in a stratified random sample of households in low-income neighborhoods ( N = 7,496). Confirmatory factor analyses indicate that collective efficacy is best represented as two factors rather than one factor. Multilevel structural equation models show that social cohesion at the individual and neighborhood levels, but not informal social control, is predictive of material hardship. Although statistically significant, these results must be interpreted with caution as social cohesion accounts for only a small portion of variance in hardship outcomes.