Abstract
Early childhood is a critical period in the life course, setting the foundation for future life. Early life contexts—neighborhoods and families—influence developmental outcomes, especially when children are exposed to economic and social disadvantage. Residential mobility, frequent among families with pre-school children, may reduce or increase exposure to adverse surroundings. We examine children’s cognitive and behavioral outcomes at age five, in relation to neighborhood composition, family circumstances and residential moves, using two longitudinal micro datasets: an urban subsample of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N up to 7967), and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study in the US (N up to 1820). Each is linked to an index of neighborhood advantage, created to make UK/US comparisons, based on census and administrative information. A series of estimates indicate a strong association, in both countries, between cognitive scores and neighborhood advantage, attenuated but not eliminated by family circumstances. Children’s behavior problems, on the other hand, show less association with neighborhood advantage. There are minor and mixed differences by residential mobility particularly when neighborhood disadvantage changes. Notwithstanding the primacy of the family in predicting preschool development, the findings support the notion of neighborhood as potentially advantageous at least in relation to cognitive outcomes.
Highlights
In the last several decades, a large body of research from various disciplines has investigated the links between neighborhoods’ socio-economic conditions and individual well-being [1]
We present the predictors used in the multivariate analysis according to their theoretical domain, that is: area and mobility, family context, health, and basic control variables
A further contribution of this study is that it complements its examination of neighborhood socio-economic composition at one point in time with a consideration of neighborhood change to account for residential mobility
Summary
In the last several decades, a large body of research from various disciplines has investigated the links between neighborhoods’ socio-economic conditions and individual well-being [1]. Spatial variations in well-being may be interpreted as ‘neighborhood effects’, but they may be confounded by area’s social composition. It is not clear whether the ‘effects’ of neighborhood disadvantage are sources or symptoms of individual disadvantage. This paper offers a contribution to research on spatial patterns in children’s development [2,3]. One from developmental psychology, rooted in Bronfenbrenner’ bio-ecological theory [4,5], conceptualizes human development as the product of the sustained interactions between children and their multiple nested environments. Children directly interact with more proximate contexts, such as family, daycare center, or neighborhood of residence, but are indirectly affected by more distal environments, shaped by long-term economic, political, and cultural factors
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