The Consequences of Spatial Inequality for Adolescent Residential Mobility

Matt Vogel,Merle Zwiers

doi:10.3390/socsci7090164

Abstract

A large body of literature suggests that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is positively associated with out-mobility. However, prior research has been limited by (1) the inability to account for endogenous factors that both funnel families into deprived neighborhoods and increase their likelihood of moving out, and (2) the failure to consider how the spatial distribution of socioeconomic deprivation in the broader community conditions the effect of local deprivation on mobility. This paper attends to this gap in the literature by examining how changes in socioeconomic disadvantage between sending and receiving neighborhoods and the spatial patterning of deprivation in the areas surrounding destination neighborhoods influence future mobility among a representative sample of American adolescents. We employ a modeling strategy that allows us to examine the unique and separable effects of local and extralocal neighborhood disadvantage while simultaneously holding constant time-invariant factors that place some youth at a greater likelihood of experiencing a residential move. We find that moves to more impoverished neighborhoods decrease the likelihood of subsequent mobility and that this effect is most pronounced among respondents who move to neighborhoods surrounded by other similarly deprived neighborhoods. In this sense, geographical pockets of disadvantage strengthen the mobility-hampering effect of neighborhood deprivation on future mobility.

Highlights

Residential mobility is often viewed as a disruptive process in the lives of children and adolescents, as moving often means severing ties with friends, schools, and communities (Raviv et al 1990).An overwhelming body of literature suggests that adolescents who move tend to experience higher levels of psychological duress, perform poorly in school, and display higher levels of problematic behaviors relative to their residentially stable peers (Haynie and South 2005; Metzger et al 2015).As such, there is a long tradition of social science research aimed at identifying the factors that place some adolescents at a higher risk of moving than others (e.g., South et al 1998; Gasper et al 2010; Porter and Vogel 2014)
Emerging research suggests that (1) neighborhood disadvantage increases the likelihood of experiencing a residential move above and beyond individual and family risk factors and (2) decreases in neighborhood quality between sending and receiving neighborhoods may be especially harmful for later life outcomes
Absent from this literature is a discussion of the processes that funnel families into particular neighborhoods and an understanding of how levels of socioeconomic disadvantage in the broader community contribute to out-mobility

Summary

Introduction

Residential mobility is often viewed as a disruptive process in the lives of children and adolescents, as moving often means severing ties with friends, schools, and communities (Raviv et al 1990).An overwhelming body of literature suggests that adolescents who move tend to experience higher levels of psychological duress, perform poorly in school, and display higher levels of problematic behaviors relative to their residentially stable peers (Haynie and South 2005; Metzger et al 2015).As such, there is a long tradition of social science research aimed at identifying the factors that place some adolescents at a higher risk of moving than others (e.g., South et al 1998; Gasper et al 2010; Porter and Vogel 2014). Residential mobility is often viewed as a disruptive process in the lives of children and adolescents, as moving often means severing ties with friends, schools, and communities (Raviv et al 1990). An overwhelming body of literature suggests that adolescents who move tend to experience higher levels of psychological duress, perform poorly in school, and display higher levels of problematic behaviors relative to their residentially stable peers (Haynie and South 2005; Metzger et al 2015). There is a long tradition of social science research aimed at identifying the factors that place some adolescents at a higher risk of moving than others (e.g., South et al 1998; Gasper et al 2010; Porter and Vogel 2014). Scholars typically point to the role of family and community factors as ‘pushes’.

Methods

Results

Conclusion