Co-ethnic Neighborhoods Research Articles

Associations of Household and Neighborhood Contexts and Hair Cortisol Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents From Low-Income Immigrant Families.

Although neighborhood contexts serve as upstream determinants of health, it remains unclear how these contexts "get under the skin" of Mexican-origin youth, who are disproportionately concentrated in highly disadvantaged yet co-ethnic neighborhoods. The current study examines the associations between household and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), neighborhood racial-ethnic and immigrant composition, and hair cortisol concentration (HCC)-a physiological index of chronic stress response-among Mexican-origin adolescents from low-income immigrant families in the United States. A total of 297 (54.20% female; mage=17.61, SD=0.93) Mexican-origin adolescents had their hair cortisol collected, and their residential addresses were geocoded and merged with the American Community Survey. Neighborhoods with higher Hispanic-origin and foreign-born residents were associated with higher neighborhood disadvantage, whereas neighborhoods with higher non-Hispanic White and domestic-born residents were associated with higher neighborhood affluence. Mexican-origin adolescents living in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Hispanic-origin residents showed lower levels of HCC, consistent with the role of the ethnic enclave. In contrast, adolescents living in more affluent neighborhoods showed higher levels of HCC, possibly reflecting a physiological toll. No association was found between household SES and HCC. Our findings underscore the importance of taking sociocultural contexts and person-environment fit into consideration when understanding how neighborhoods influence adolescents' stress physiology.

Ethnic enclaves and ethnoburbs: are there differences in associations with juvenile offense type among Asian Americans?

ABSTRACT Little is known about the neighborhood context of offending for Asian American youth. The current study differentiates between coethnic neighborhood types and considers if residence in ethnoburbs–a more recently conceptualized coethnic neighborhood–is associated with more serious arrests (for substance, property, weapon, or violent offenses). Asian youth in ethnic enclaves had lower odds of a violence arrest relative to youth in non-coethnic neighborhoods. Youth in ethnoburbs had higher odds of a weapons arrest, but this association is attenuated after adjusting for individual-level covariates. Implications for future research include exploring mechanisms for place-based targeted intervention strategies.

Ethnicity and Acculturation: Asian American Substance Use from Early Adolescence to Mature Adulthood

Research on Asian American substance use has, to date, been limited by monolithic conceptions of Asian identity, inadequate attention to acculturative process, and a dearth of longitudinal analyses spanning developmental periods. Using five waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study addresses these limitations by longitudinally investigating disparities in substance use from early adolescence into mature adulthood among Asian American ethnic groups, including subjects identifying as multiple Asian ethnicities and multiracial Asians. The conditional effects of acculturation indicators (e.g., nativity generation, co-ethnic peer networks, co-ethnic neighborhood concentration) on the substance use outcomes were also examined. Results indicate significant variation across Asian ethnicities, with the lowest probabilities of substance use among Chinese and Vietnamese Americans, and the highest among multiracial Asian Americans. Acculturation indicators were also strongly, independently associated with increased substance use, and attenuated many of the observed ethnic disparities, particularly for multiracial, multiethnic, and Japanese Asian Americans. This study argues that ignoring the diversity of Asian ethnicities masks the presence of high-risk Asian American groups. Moreover, results indicate that, among Asian Americans, substance use is strongly positively associated with acculturation to U.S. cultural norms, and generally peaks at later ages than the U.S. average.

Do Extended Family Members Protect Children from Disadvantaged Neighborhoods? Focusing on Behavioral Problems of Children

The developmental–ecological model highlights the contextual environments that influence children’s emotional and behavioral adjustment. No previous research considers neighborhood characteristics when examining the influence of extended family members. This study investigates the characteristics of neighborhoods where extended family households reside, and the confounding and moderating effects of extended family household structure and the neighborhood influences of income and co-ethnic concentration levels. Data come from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study and the decennial census. The analytical sample includes 1553 children between the ages of 3 and 11 years, clustered in 1191 households in 65 census tracts. This study uses multilevel linear regression modeling. Extended family households are more likely than nuclear families to live in lower-income neighborhoods, but with similar proportions of co-ethnics. Children in extended family households show higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing behaviors compared to children in nuclear families, an effect not explained by their neighborhood environments. Extended family members moderate the neighborhood effects, boosting advantages within co-ethnic concentrated neighborhoods. With a higher proportion of co-ethnics in their neighborhoods, children in extended families show lower levels of externalizing behaviors compared to children in nuclear families. Co-resident extended family members not only predict child internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems but also moderate their neighborhood environments. This study provides policy implications, highlighting the potential of extended members to promote child development.

Correction to: Beyond the immigrant enclave: differentiating between coethnic neighborhoods for the study of health and social problems

In the original publication, the author has missed to include the Acknowledgements. It has been provided in this correction.

Beyond the immigrant enclave: Differentiating between coethnic neighborhoods for the study of health and social problems.

Where one lives relates to various health risks and social problems, and the ways in which neighborhoods are changing may have implications for the health and well-being of ethnic minority populations. Much of the extant research relating coethnic neighborhoods, or ethnically dense geographic areas, to health and risk behaviors use broader measurements such as proportion of coethnics or immigrants to capture this construct. I argue that using a single variable to define a coethnic neighborhood oftentimes does not account for social processes in these areas that may be related to health and risk. This study uses a mixed methods approach to establish criteria to differentiate between ethnic enclaves and ethnoburbs in Los Angeles County, California. The process of classifying the two coethnic neighborhood types for five Asian ethnic subgroups underwent an iterative process of using (1) administrative data to identify neighborhood areas within zip codes and (2) interviews with key community stakeholders. The final criteria for establishing neighborhood typologies included percent ethnicity, population density, and percent families in poverty. Operationalizing the ethnoburb in comparison to the ethnic enclave will enable a more nuanced study of coethnic neighborhood effects on health and social problems for diverse populations.

How are the Children of Immigrants Assimilating? The Effects of Individual, Neighborhood, Coethnic Community, and National Origin Group Characteristics on Education in San Diego

How immigrants’ children will integrate to US society is of ongoing debate. This study examines which assimilation pathway immigrants’ children are following. This study examines how four factors—individual, neighborhood, coethnic community, and national origin group—affect the children of immigrants’ educational attainment. I analyze a unique data set that matches individual survey data from the Children of Immigrants’ Longitudinal Survey (CILS) dataset with coethnic community, neighborhood, and group level data. The results indicate that coethnic community, group, and individual factors simultaneously influence the children of immigrants’ education, showing evidence for the selective assimilation pathway.

Ethnic neighborhoods, social networks, and inter-household carpooling: A comparison across ethnic minority groups

The implications of racial residential segregation on travel behavior have remained understudied, despite the persistent existence of segregation. Using the 2009 National Household Travel Survey, I investigate whether residence in a co-ethnic neighborhood affects the likelihood that ethnic minorities will form inter-household carpools, and if so, how such effects differ across race or ethnic groups. Inter-household carpooling requires arrangements and interactions between people living in geographical proximity, so it will likely reflect the social networks of a neighborhood. The results show that Hispanics and Asians who reside in their co-ethnic neighborhoods, regardless of immigrant status, are more likely to use inter-household carpools for non-work purposes than their counterparts living outside co-ethnic neighborhoods. In contrast, black neighborhood residency is not associated with the likelihood that African Americans will do inter-household carpooling, regardless of trip purpose. These differences across racial/ethnic groups suggest that the role of neighborhoods in promoting social ties as reflected by activities such as external carpooling is complex. Residence in a black neighborhood may be less of a choice than residence in a Hispanic or Asian neighborhood due to the long history of black segregation in the US. With less residential choice, the propensity to develop local social ties may be weaker.

Mexican Origin Youths’ Trajectories of Perceived Peer Discrimination from Middle Childhood to Adolescence: Variation by Neighborhood Ethnic Concentration

Developmentally salient research on perceived peer discrimination among minority youths is limited. Little is known about trajectories of perceived peer discrimination across the developmental period ranging from middle childhood to adolescence. Ethically concentrated neighborhoods are hypothesized to protect minority youths from discrimination, but strong empirical tests are lacking. The first aim of the current study was to estimate trajectories of perceived peer discrimination from middle childhood to adolescence, as youths transitioned from elementary to middle and to high school. The second aim was to examine the relationship between neighborhood ethnic concentration and perceived peer discrimination over time. Using a diverse sample of 749 Mexican origin youths (48.9% female), a series of growth models revealed that youths born in Mexico, relative to those born in the U.S., perceived higher discrimination in the 5th grade and decreases across time. Youths who had higher averages on neighborhood ethnic concentration (across the developmental period) experienced decreases in perceived peer discrimination over time; those that had lower average neighborhood ethnic concentration levels showed evidence of increasing trajectories. Further, when individuals experienced increases in their own neighborhood ethnic concentration levels (relative to their own cross-time averages), they reported lower levels of perceived peer discrimination. Neighborhood ethnic concentration findings were not explained by the concurrent changes youths were experiencing in school ethnic concentrations. The results support a culturally-informed developmental view of perceived peer discrimination that recognizes variability in co-ethnic neighborhood contexts. The results advance a view of ethnic enclaves as protective from mainstream threats.

A Study of Locational Distribution of Small and Large Ethnic Businesses in a Multiethnic City: Chinese in Toronto, Canada

The study, with specific hypotheses developed from the literature on ecological perspective and the economic sociology, addresses the locational patterns of small and large ethnic businesses in a multiethnic context. Drawing from a 2001 data set of Chinese businesses collected in Toronto and 2001 Canadian census tract data, our results show that though a considerable proportion of small Chinese businesses are located in coethnic neighborhoods, close to half of them are located outside coethnic neighborhoods. Similar patterns are also found among large Chinese businesses.

The Effect of Economic Standing, Individual Preferences, and Co-ethnic Resources on Immigrant Residential Clustering

Our study examines how immigrants cluster in co-ethnic neighborhoods. We systematically explore the effects of three factors on the co-ethnic clustering of immigrants: economic resources, co-ethnic preferences, and the use of co-ethnic information sources. The study is based on a unique data set that provides rarely available rich information on housing search collected in Toronto in 2006. Focusing on Asian Indians and Chinese immigrants, the results clearly suggest that of all preferences, only co-ethnic preference is related to co-ethnic clustering of the two groups when income and use of co-ethnic resources are taken into consideration, and that levels of co-ethnic clustering are not related to the economic resources of immigrants. The findings also reveal that some effects are distinctive to specific groups. Although immigrants use various co-ethnic resources to obtain housing information, only the use of co-ethnic real estate agents is significant, and that only for the clustering of Chinese, not for Asian Indians.

Place of birth, duration of residence, neighborhood immigrant composition and body mass index in New York City

BackgroundPast research has suggested that changes in culture explain the substantial weight gain seen in many immigrant groups with length of residence in the U.S. and across generations of residence in the U.S. However, it has been theorized that those settling in immigrant and co-ethnic neighborhoods may be buffered against this acculturative process and will be more likely to maintain home country dietary and physical activity patterns. To investigate this theory we incorporated measures of neighborhood immigrant composition into analyses of individual's body mass index (BMI) and generation of immigration and duration of residence in the U.S.MethodsMultilevel analyses were performed using objectively measured height and weight and survey data on diet and physical activity from a sample of 13,011 residents of New York City. Census data were used to calculate the proportion of foreign-born residents and extent of household linguistic isolation in a ½ mile radial buffer around the subject's home.ResultsForeign birth was associated with a significantly lower BMI (-1.09 BMI units, P < 0.001). This association was weakest among Asians (-0.66 BMI units, P = 0.08) and strongest among Black-Caribbeans (-1.41 BMI units, P = 0.07). After controlling for individual level variables, neighborhood proportion foreign-born was not associated with BMI, but increasing neighborhood linguistic isolation was inversely associated with BMI among Hispanics (-2.97 BMI units, P = 0.03). Furthermore among Hispanics, the association between foreign birth and BMI was stronger in low linguistic isolation neighborhoods (-1.36 BMI units, P < 0.0001) as compared to in high linguistic isolation levels (-0.42 BMI units, P = 0.79). Increasing duration of residence in the U.S. was significantly associated with higher BMI overall and among Hispanics.ConclusionThe analyses suggest that acculturation is associated with weight gain, and that neighborhood characteristics are only associated with BMI among Hispanics. However, we suggest that changes in body size currently interpreted as post-migration effects of acculturation to U.S. norms may in fact reflect changes in norms that are taking place internationally.

The self-segregation of Asians and Hispanics: The role of assimilation and racial prejudice

This study examines the predictors that determine Asians’ and Hispanics’ preferences for living in ethnically homogeneous communities. I hypothesize that individuals who have low socioeconomic status, are less acculturated, and have greater ethnic affiliation with co-ethnics are more likely to prefer living in a co-ethnic neighborhood. The findings show that the lack of English ability is one of the most important predictors of preferring a co-ethnic community among both Asians and Hispanics. Another striking result that emerges from the analysis is that the race of the neighbors is the most important influence on preferences for living in co-ethnic neighborhoods.

Ghettos and Barrios: The Impact of Neighborhood Poverty and Race on Job Matching among Blacks and Latinos

Recent research suggests that racial and poverty concentrations in urban neighborhoods influence how minorities look for and find jobs. In this study, we use data from the Multi-City Survey of Urban Inequality to examine this hypothesis, focusing on the use and return to various modes of job matching among blacks and Latinos in different residential contexts. Results show that while Latinos are generally more likely than blacks to acquire jobs through personal contacts, this racial difference shrinks considerably in very poor, coethnic neighborhoods (i.e., ghettos and barrios). However, results also indicate that within these respective neighborhood contexts, Latinos are significantly more likely than blacks to use neighbors and eventual coworkers to acquire jobs; whereas blacks are more likely to use residential and organizational “outsiders.” We speculate that this qualitative difference in the type of contacts used in barrios, as opposed to ghettos, affects the extent to which individual success with informal job matching contributes to the development of a collective resource that can be used by other job seekers in the neighborhood.