The spaces between: Parents' perceptions of neighborhood cohesion and child well-being

Abstract

Economic disadvantage profoundly impacts children and families. Yet, limited work examines the multileveled processes by which low-income parents’ neighborhood perceptions intersect with their children’s opportunities. Using the Making Connections (MC) longitudinal dataset, a multi-city random-sampled strengths-based study of predominately low-income households, we examine how parents’ perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy (social cohesion and informal social control) shape their school-age children and adolescents’ (M age = 10.8, range = 7-17 years; 46.6% = female) participation in extracurricular activities and perceived school satisfaction. The study sample is racially diverse (Black, Latino/a, White, API, and Multiracial) and low-income. Findings indicated that higher collective efficacy predicted increased school satisfaction. However, collective efficacy only positively predicted participation in extracurricular activities for higher income households. This study offers insight into how parents’ perceptions of their neighborhoods, and their degree of economic advantage, may jointly shape their children’s well-being.