Neighborhoods and Parenting

Abstract

The present study examines the relationship between neighborhood quality and parental monitoring of youth aged 10 to 18 ( N = 1,630) from the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Multiple measures of the neighborhood, including parents’ perceptions of quality, structure (i.e., poverty and affluence), and social organization (i.e., collective efficacy), are examined to gain a deeper understanding of how neighborhoods influence parenting. Parental monitoring is assessed through two separate measures: parents’ knowledge of their youth’s friends and whereabouts and having rules to regulate after-school activities. Bivariate models show that parents’ perceptions of neighborhood quality are differentially related to each aspect of parental monitoring, but these relationships are accounted for by child/family characteristics. Collective efficacy, however, remains positively tied to both aspects of parental monitoring. Social organization is also more strongly associated with parental monitoring than neighborhood structure. The policy implications of these findings for youth are discussed.