Abstract
Relying on nationally representative data from the most recent wave of the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), the current study examines how past and present neighborhood racial composition is associated with feelings of closeness toward black Americans, black Africans, and black West Indians. In addition, this research tests whether race-based socialization messages received from caregivers or religious socialization messages explain this relationship among a sample from the adult black US population. The findings show that past neighborhood composition is associated with present feelings of closeness toward black Americans and black West Indians but are not associated with close feelings toward black Africans. Current neighborhood racial composition is not associated with feelings of closeness toward any of the groups. Racial socialization messages are associated with closeness towards them all but are found to be largely a function of having a two-parent family during childhood. Religious socialization is also associated with intraracial feelings of closeness. Results suggest that neighborhood racial composition is important to help facilitate positive feelings toward others who share the same race but a different ethnicity.
Highlights
Dating back to The Chicago School [1], there has been a plethora of research on the effects of neighborhood on various social outcomes in urban cities such as physical health [2], education [3], exposure to crime/violence [4], and family formation [5]
Model 1 includes neighborhood racial composition, Model 2 includes neighborhood composition and family structure, Model 3 includes neighborhood composition and racial socialization messages, Model 4 includes neighborhood composition and religious measures, and Model 5 is the full model with all measures
This study examined the effect of neighborhood composition, family structure, and family socialization on how close blacks feel towards members of the pan-African diaspora
Summary
Dating back to The Chicago School [1], there has been a plethora of research on the effects of neighborhood on various social outcomes in urban cities such as physical health [2], education [3], exposure to crime/violence [4], and family formation [5]. There is less representation of blacks in lowpoverty areas compared to high-poverty areas In light of these statistics, the literature has not provided a thorough understanding of how neighborhood racial composition affects how close one feels towards individuals within one’s race (but not one’s ethnicity). There has been a recent push to expand upon “blackness” and its meaning within certain ethnic groups such as West Indians and Africans [23,24,25], mainly because there is an assumption that the black community is a monolithic group with a strong sense of consonant black identity This exploration into how black Americans identify with other members in the panAfrican diaspora allows for further expansion of blackness. It is important to know how both neighborhood characteristics and family dynamics dictate feelings of closeness among members of the pan-African diaspora
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
