High Immigrant Concentration Research Articles

Exploring Neighborhood Influences on Small-Area Variations in Intimate Partner Violence Risk: A Bayesian Random-Effects Modeling Approach

This paper uses spatial data of cases of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) to examine neighborhood-level influences on small-area variations in IPVAW risk in a police district of the city of Valencia (Spain). To analyze area variations in IPVAW risk and its association with neighborhood-level explanatory variables we use a Bayesian spatial random-effects modeling approach, as well as disease mapping methods to represent risk probabilities in each area. Analyses show that IPVAW cases are more likely in areas of high immigrant concentration, high public disorder and crime, and high physical disorder. Results also show a spatial component indicating remaining variability attributable to spatially structured random effects. Bayesian spatial modeling offers a new perspective to identify IPVAW high and low risk areas, and provides a new avenue for the design of better-informed prevention and intervention strategies.

The associations between sex, immigrant status, immigrant concentration and intimate partner violence: Evidence from the Canadian General Social Survey

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important public health concern, yet little is known about the combined effects of individual- and neighbourhood-level characteristics on IPV among immigrants. The aim of this study is to examine: (1) the association between immigrant status and IPV victimisation and whether sex modifies this association, and (2) the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and IPV victimisation, and whether immigrant status modifies this association. Our sample of 10,964 males and females comes from the 2009 Canadian General Social Survey. After controlling for covariates, immigrant status was not associated with IPV, and sex significantly modified the association between immigrant status and financial and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to males, second-generation females were less likely to report financial IPV and first-generation females were more likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Immigrant status modified the association between the neighbourhood concentration of immigrants and emotional and physical/sexual IPV. Compared to third-generation males, first-generation males living in neighbourhoods with a higher concentration of immigrants were more likely to report emotional IPV, whereas second-generation males in these neighbourhoods were less likely to report physical/sexual IPV. Interventions to reduce IPV should pay equal attention to individual- and neighbourhood-level influences.

Ethnic Concentration and Bank Use in Immigrant Communities

Despite the many benefits of bank use, large portions of the U.S. population remain unbanked. One of the largest is immigrants, where the incidence of being unbanked is over 13% higher than among natives in 2001. We document growth in the nativity gap in bank use over time. We also test the importance of immigrant enclaves, defined as areas with high concentrations of immigrants from the same region, in explaining the increasing differential in bank use. Combining data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, Census, and FDIC we find that immigrants living in enclaves are significantly less likely to have a bank account. We take steps to isolate one particular channel through which this might operate: the use of informal financial services provided by co‐ethnics in enclaves. The results suggest that demand‐side preferences may have power in explaining the persistence of the nativity gap in bank use in the United States.

The Fiscal Impact of Immigration in France: A Generational Accounting Approach

AbstractThe objective of this study is to use both static and dynamic frameworks to compare the benefits that immigrants draw from the public system with their contributions through the taxes that they pay. The main conclusion of this paper is that the impact of immigration on welfare systems is weak. Thus, if we compare, on a given date, immigrants' global contribution to the public administration budget with the volume of transfers they receive, immigrants appear to be relatively favoured by the redistribution system. At the same time, even if immigrants seem to pay less taxes and receive more transfers than natives, the difference in distribution between the two populations, with a higher concentration of immigrants in the active age groups and a sparser concentration among the net beneficiaries of the social transfer system, leads to a slightly positive long‐term impact of immigration on public finances. However, the impact of immigration remains very slight compared with the global effort that would have to be undertaken to reduce budgetary imbalances.

Income diversity and neighborhood variation in low birth weight rates, Chicago, 1990-2006: Results using longitudinal and cross-sectional measures

Although increased risk for adverse birth outcomes has been associated with neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, most studies have used cross-sectional measures to account for neighborhood context. Consequently, dynamic neighborhood processes that may influence adverse birth outcomes are not fully understood. In this study, a longitudinal measure of socioeconomic change was used to explore variation in low birth weight (LBW) rates between 1990 and 2006 in Chicago neighborhoods. A crosss-ectional measure of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics was then used to compare the LBW rates across Chicago neighborhoods during the same time frame to determine whether the cross-sectional measure would capture the same nuances in LBW variation as the longitudinal measure. Consistent with previous studies, both measures identified higher low birth weight rates in neighborhoods entrenched in poverty during the study period. However, the longitudinal measure showed that mothers residing in low income neighborhoods with high concentrations of immigrants had LBW rates that were lower than mothers residing in high income neighborhoods. Our results suggest that while cross-sectional measures of neighborhood socioeconomic context may capture global variations in low birth weight rates, longitudinal measures may illuminate subtleties between neighborhoods that might provide an opportunity for targeted policies to reduce adverse maternal and child health outcomes.

Exploring the impacts of safety culture on immigrants' vulnerability in non-motorized crashes: a cross-sectional study.

Pedestrians and cyclists are a vulnerable group of road users. Immigrants are disproportionally represented in pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We postulate that the mismatch in safety culture between countries of their origin and the U.S.A. contribute to their vulnerability in pedestrian and cyclist crashes. Over time, the differences may disappear and immigrants' traffic behavior gravitates toward those of native-borns. We describe this process as safety assimilation. Using the pedestrian and cyclist crash database in New York City between 2001 and 2003, we examined the effects of foreign-born population, their countries of origin, and time of entry into the USA on census tract-level pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We find that neighborhoods with a higher concentration of immigrants, especially those from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, have more crashes. Our results also exhibit a pattern of the hypothesized safety assimilation process. The study suggests a higher level of vulnerability of immigrants to pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We propose that targeted policies and programs need to be developed for immigrants of different countries of origin.

The effect of immigrant concentration in schools on native and immigrant children's reading and math skills

Using a unique and very rich PISA dataset from Denmark, we show that the immigrant concentration in the school influences reading and math skills for both immigrant children and native children. Overall, children in schools with a high immigrant concentration score lower on reading and math test scores. The negative effects associated with attending a school with a high immigrant concentration are fairly robust across estimation methods. IV estimates, taking into consideration that parental sorting across neighborhoods might bias the OLS estimates, indicate that immigrant concentration in schools is still important in determining children's math test scores. The estimates are less precise regarding the effect of immigrant concentration on reading test scores. The immigrant concentration in the school has a stronger effect for native children than for immigrant children, but the differences are more pronounced for the math test.

Prenatal care among immigrant and racial-ethnic minority women in a new immigrant destination: Exploring the impact of immigrant legal status

Despite the rising share of undocumented immigrants in the US population, research has been quite limited regarding immigrant legal status and how it may limit healthcare access, especially research involving direct identification of undocumented populations. Drawing upon the Utah Population Database, a unique, comprehensive linked system of vital, medical, and administrative records, we analyze the prenatal care utilization in a large and recent cohort of births to mothers residing in the pre-emerging immigrant gateway state of Utah. Our analyses focus on the racial-ethnic, nativity and legal status of mothers as factors that influence prenatal care utilization. State administrative records are used to assess legal status among foreign-born mothers, specifically driver privilege cards made available to undocumented migrants. Our results indicate the importance of disaggregating the expansive categories of Hispanics and the foreign born to better understand health outcomes and healthcare utilization among immigrants. In particular, we find that the legal status of immigrant mothers is one of several important factors influencing prenatal care utilization. Undocumented women are among the least likely to obtain adequate levels of prenatal care. However, undocumented women’s prenatal care utilization is enhanced among those using the state’s integrative driver privilege program, and among those residing in neighborhoods with high concentrations of immigrants. Results are discussed in light of theory on immigrant integration and healthcare access, and in terms of public policies, such as those extending driver privileges to unauthorized immigrants, which aim to facilitate immigrants’ access to institutions within destination communities.

Demography of Immigrant Youth: Past, Present, and Future

Jeffrey Passel surveys demographic trends and projections in the U.S. youth population, with an emphasis on trends among immigrant youth. He traces shifts in the youth population over the past hundred years, examines population projections through 2050, and offers some observations about the likely impact of the immigrant youth population on American society. Passel provides data on the legal status of immigrant youth and their families and on their geographic distribution and concentration across the United States. He emphasizes two demographic shifts. First, immigrant youth-defined as those children under age eighteen who are either foreign-born or U.S.-born to immigrant parents-now account for one-fourth of the nation's 75 million children. By 2050 they are projected to make up one-third of more than 100 million U.S. children. Second, the wave of immigration under way since the mid-1960s has made children the most racially and ethnically diverse age group in the United States. In 1960 Hispanic, Asian, and mixed-race youth made up about 6 percent of all U.S. children; today that share is almost 30 percent. During that same period the share of non-Hispanic white children steadily dropped from about 81 percent to 56 percent, while the share of black children climbed very slightly to 14 percent. By 2050 the share of non-Hispanic white children is projected to drop to 40 percent, while that of Hispanic children will increase to about one-third. This changing demographic structure in U.S. youth is likely to present policy makers with several challenges in coming decades, including higher rates of poverty among youth, particularly among foreign-born children and children of undocumented parents; high concentrations of immigrants in a handful of states; and a lack of political voice. A related challenge may be intergenerational competition between youth and the elderly for governmental support such as education funding, Social Security, and government health benefits. In conclusion, Passel notes that today's immigrants and their children will shape many aspects of American society and will provide virtually all the growth in the U.S. labor force over the next forty years. Their integration into American society and their accumulation of human capital thus require continued attention from researchers and policy makers.

Combining census and registration data to analyse ethnic migration patterns in England from 1991 to 2007

AbstractIn this paper, we develop a model that allows us to combine annual (incomplete) registration data with (auxiliary) census data. The result is a synthetic database that can be used to analyse the evolution of specific migrant groups over time. For illustration, we model the evolution of ethnic interregional migration in England by age and sex from 1991 to 2007 by combining National Health Service registration data with 1991 and 2001 census data. This annual time series of detailed migration flows is useful for both planning and for understanding ethnic population redistribution. Furthermore, changes over time can be related to regions exhibiting, for example, high unemployment, high costs of living, or high immigrant concentrations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effect of Perceived and Structural Neighborhood Conditions on Adolescents' Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors

To test whether physical activity and sedentary behaviors are associated with perceived and structural neighborhood conditions. Secondary analysis of data from wave I (1994-1995) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. In-home interviews of adolescents and their parents. Thirteen thousand six hundred sixty-eight adolescents (6794 adolescent boys and 6874 adolescent girls; grades 7-12). Perceived neighborhood conditions (public nuisance, acquaintanceship, and informal control measured at both individual and census tract levels) and structural neighborhood characteristics (concentrated poverty, immigrant concentration, and residential stability at the census tract level). Failure to meet moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines (<5 bouts of MVPA per week) and excessive screen time (>2 hours per day). Individual-level perception of intermediate (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.68-0.84) or high (OR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.50-0.61) acquaintanceship and high informal control (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82-0.99) in the neighborhood were negatively associated with failure to meet the MVPA guidelines compared with lower levels. At the census tract level, high informal control (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.29) and intermediate (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26) and high (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.06-1.40) concentrated poverty compared with lower levels were also associated with failing to meet the MVPA guidelines (when adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics). Compared with the lowest levels, high public nuisance (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.04-1.36) and immigrant concentration (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.01-1.38) at the census tract level were associated with excessive screen time. These findings suggest that both perceptual and structural neighborhood factors should be considered to understand adolescents' physical activity and sedentary behaviors.

Registration for public drug benefits across areas of differing ethnic composition in British Columbia, Canada

BackgroundIn 2003, the government of British Columbia, Canada introduced a universal drug benefit plan to cover drug costs that are high relative to household income. Residents were required to register in order to be eligible for the income-based benefits. Given past research suggesting that registration processes may pose an access barrier to certain subpopulations, we aimed to determine whether registration rates varied across small geographic areas that differed in ethnic composition.MethodsUsing linked population-based administrative databases and census data, we conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine whether the probability of registration for the public drug plan varied across areas of differing ethnic composition, controlling for household-level predisposing, enabling and needs factors.ResultsThe adjusted odds of registration did not differ across regions characterized by high concentrations (greater than 30%) of residents identifying as North American, British, French or other European. Households located in areas with concentrations of residents identifying as an Asian ethnicity had the highest odds of program registration: Chinese (OR = 1.21, CI: 1.19-1.23) and South Asian (OR = 1.19, CI: 1.16-1.22). Despite this positive finding, households residing in areas with relatively high concentrations of recent immigrants had slightly lower adjusted odds of registering for the program (OR = 0.97, CI: 0.95-0.98).ConclusionsThis study identified ethnic variation in registration for a new public drug benefit program in British Columbia. However, unlike previous studies, the variation observed did not indicate that areas with high concentrations of certain ethnicities experienced disadvantages. Potential explanations are discussed.

What scale matters? exploring the relationships between individuals' social position, neighbourhood context and the scale of neighbourhood

.Over the past few years, neighbourhood effects research has received significant attention from the academic world, not only in the US, where that attention has a longer tradition, but also in Western Europe. There is also substantial interest among policy makers. Most policy makers intend to reduce concentrations of poverty by enhancing the social mix of neighbourhoods. Avoiding high immigrant concentrations in particular neighbourhoods is another issue that fuels political debate and policy intervention in many Western European countries, Scandinavian countries included. However, there are clear gaps in the understanding of the relationship between neighbourhood composition and social outcomes. One of these gaps regards the scale of the neighbourhood; if there would be neighbourhood effects, what scale is it relevant to consider? Is mix good or bad for the social prospects of individuals at a level that is very local, for example a few neighbouring streets, or could mix be helpful at a somewhat higher scale? This article will focus on this issue, applying individual longitudinal data in multi‐level models for the entire active population of the three largest metropolitan areas in Sweden. We will explore the degree to which the social and ethnic composition of geographical districts, at a variety of scales (measured at time t), are statistically related to individual employment and earnings for adult metropolitan residents at time t+1, controlling for relevant personal and household characteristics.

Immigrants and Neighbourhoods of Concentrated Poverty: Assimilation or Stagnation?

Immigrants in the United States often live, at least for a time, in neighbourhoods that have high concentrations of fellow immigrants. Typically, these neighbourhoods also have high poverty levels and are located near concentrations of the native-born poor. Conventional wisdom is that living in extremely poor neighbourhoods leads to ‘concentration effects’ that exacerbate the problems of poverty and limit economic opportunity. While immigrants are not immune to the problems of crime, gangs, dilapidated housing and failing schools associated with high-poverty neighbourhoods, it has been argued that immigrant neighbourhoods provide advantages as well. These include the creation of parallel institutions, vernacular information networks and familiar cultural practices. The analyses presented here provide some support for this notion, by showing immigrants’ progress from higher- to lower-poverty neighbourhoods over time. Yet Mexican immigrants do not transition nearly as rapidly, providing support for the segmented assimilation hypothesis.

Co-opting the immigration issue within the French right

The influence of the extreme right National Front (FN) party has grown over the past three decades and previous research has shown that the left and right parties have responded in various ways, most significantly by bringing the issue of immigration into the national agenda. This study demonstrates that right party legislators have responded to the rise of the immigration issue by proposing anti-immigrant legislation. The findings of this paper suggest legislators propose anti-immigrant legislation at greater frequencies when they represent departments with high concentrations of immigrants or high levels of FN support.

Residential Segregation and the Electoral Participation of Immigrants in Australia

This paper investigates whether immigrants in Australia residing in situations of residential segregation (federal constituencies with high concentrations of immigrants) participate more in electoral politics than other immigrants. The results indicate that immigrants participate more when living in federal constituencies with high concentrations of immigrants and also exhibit greater homogeneity in their partisan preferences. The analysis also indicates that the impact of residential segregation is primarily observed among immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. Immigrants from visible minority background, such as those from South East Asia as well as those from Southern and South Eastern Europe, tend to be more strongly affected by the ethnic composition of their constituencies than other immigrants such as those from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Secondary Exposure to Violence During Childhood and Adolescence: Does Neighborhood Context Matter?

Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), neighborhood and individual‐level predictors of secondary exposure to violence were assessed. Secondary exposure to violence is defined as witnessing and/or hearing violent acts, as opposed to being a victim of violence directly. A substantial amount of between neighborhood variance was accounted for by individual‐level variables including gender, race/ethnicity, age, low self‐control, and prior delinquent involvement. At the neighborhood level, concentrated disadvantage and immigrant concentration were both related to exposure to secondary violence. Specifically, children and adolescents living in more disadvantaged contexts witness and hear violence at higher rates than those living in less disadvantaged contexts. Also, those living in areas with a higher concentration of immigrants are exposed to secondary violence at higher rates than those living in areas with a lower concentration of immigrants. Finally, youth services within neighborhoods served as a protective factor against exposure. Results suggest a need to target multiple neighborhood and individual correlates simultaneously to reduce secondary violence exposure among children and adolescents. Directions for future research are discussed.

Neighborhoods and Obesity in Later Life

We examined the influence of neighborhood environment on the weight status of adults 55 years and older. We conducted a 2-level logistic regression analysis of data from the 2002 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. We included 8 neighborhood scales: economic advantage, economic disadvantage, air pollution, crime and segregation, street connectivity, density, immigrant concentration, and residential stability. When we controlled for individual- and family-level confounders, living in a neighborhood with a high level of economic advantage was associated with a lower likelihood of being obese for both men (odds ratio [OR] = 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.80, 0.94) and women (OR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.77, 0.89). Men living in areas with a high concentration of immigrants and women living in areas of high residential stability were more likely to be obese. Women living in areas of high street connectivity were less likely to be overweight or obese. The mechanisms by which neighborhood environment and weight status are linked in later life differ by gender, with economic and social environment aspects being important for men and built environment aspects being salient for women.

Mapping Beur Cinema in the New Millennium

RECENT EVENTS IN FRANCE have drawn international attention to the difficulties facing the nation's young people in an extremely tight labor market. In November 2005, riots on the outskirts of many major cities caused over 200 million euros of property damage and one death. The rioters were mostly young men from housing projects in urban fringe zones, or banlieues, with no religious or political agenda and no ties to Islamist fundamentalism. Rather, their actions were motivated by a general frustration at their lack of possibilities for social mobility; unemployment nationally stands at 22 percent for people ages sixteen to twentyfour, and it can reach as high as 30 to 40 percent in some banlieue areas.1 The use of the term racaille, or scum, by then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to refer to the rioters raised a storm of controversy. Supporters praised Sarkozy, the center-right politician who was elected President of France in 2007, for his willingness to take a hard line with delinquency, but his critics were furious at his perceived lack of tolerance for the difficult economic and social situation that led to the riots. This debate blossomed during the presidential election into a full-blown discussion by all the major candidates about French national identity, a topic that raised questions about the ability of the French republican model to integrate recent immigrants and their descendants into mainstream French society. Since his election, Sarkozy has provoked further criticism from the Left for his creation of a new government ministry that explicitly links immigration to integration and national identity. In addition to highlighting the French unemployment situation, the 2005 riots and the recent presidential debates also demonstrated to a broad audience the situation of topographical segregation that has come to characterize many cities in France. The riots were primarily confined to suburban areas and rarely reached any of the city centers. These neighborhoods in difficulty are defined by landscapes of grim cites, the low-income high-rises constructed by the French government from the 19505 through the 19705 as a hasty attempt to house a rapid influx of foreign workers in a time of unprecedented economic growth. Designated by various French euphemisms such as ZUP (zones a urbaniser en priorite) or ZUS (zones urbaines sensibles), these suburban areas are inhabited by a high concentration of immigrants from France's former colonies and their descendents. Some critics argue that the architecture of the cites itself has created a world in which topographic segregation from the city mirrors cultural segregation because the architectural enormity and impersonality are so depressing that anyone with the means to do so leaves. The cites end up as zones of highly concentrated social pathology, where poverty, police confrontations, drug dealing, unemployment, and general despair become the norm (Laurence and Vaisse, par. 14). Immigrants, who make up a disproportionately high percentage of the nation's low-income population, and others who are unable to leave end up enmeshed in a process of de facto ghettoization. Their integration into mainstream society is slowed in part because of racial and ethnic discrimination, but also in part because they come from les quartiers defavorises. The perceived conflation of topographical and cultural segregation that characterizes the poorer banlieues in France has led, in part, to the dissemination in the media of unfavorable images of disaffected youth and burning cars such as those broadcast worldwide during the 2005 riots. However, these marginal urban spaces have also been sites of a significant cultural renaissance in France, giving rise to many new rap and rai artists as well as to the birth of a dynamic and multifaceted literary and film tradition. This article addresses one aspect of this cultural renaissance, the production of films in France by artists of North African origin or their descendents. …

Location, Location, Location: Where Do Immigrants Reside in Australia?

Concentration of immigrants in a particular area has important implications for the provision of social services and the local labor market. This paper examines the location choice of immigrants in five major statistical regions in Australia using the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. The paper focuses on differences in location choice across birthplace groups and cohort arrivals. The results show that immigrants from the UK are less likely to reside in larger cities (e.g., Sydney, Melbourne) compared to immigrants from other birthplace groups, particularly those from non-English-speaking countries. Ethnic concentration has a positive effect on immigrants’ location choice, and this is consistent across arrival cohorts. Furthermore, all immigrants are attracted to a particular location with high concentration of poor English-speaking immigrants or concentration of young individuals. However, immigrants are not attracted to a particular location with concentration of individuals who have not completed high school.