Middle-class Neighborhoods Research Articles

Space-focused stereotypes of immigrant neighbourhoods.

Recent research suggests that stereotypes are not only applied to social groups but also to the physical spaces that social groups inhabit. We present three experiments investigating space-focused stereotype content and valence regarding immigrant and non-immigrant neighbourhoods. In Study 1a (N = 198), a pre-registered online experiment, we observed that participants associate more negative characteristics with immigrant neighbourhoods than with middle-class neighbourhoods. Whereas they imagined immigrant neighbourhoods as crime-ridden, dirty and dangerous, they imagined middle-class neighbourhoods to be quiet, clean and safe. Furthermore, whereas stereotype valence regarding immigrant neighbourhoods was negative, stereotype valence regarding middle-class neighbourhoods was positive, suggesting large effects. These results were replicated in Study 1b (N = 274), examining stereotypes of immigrant versus majority-German neighbourhoods. In Study 2 (N = 209), a pre-registered online experiment, we observed that space-focused stereotypes were more negative when cultural stereotypes rather than personal beliefs were assessed. Exploratory analyses revealed that, compared with majority-German neighbourhoods, participants imagined immigrant neighbourhoods to be lower in socioeconomic status and also reported feeling less psychologically connected to these neighbourhoods, regardless of whether space-focused stereotypes were personally endorsed or not. Lastly, a mega-analysis across studies suggested that effects of stereotypes of immigrant in comparison to non-immigrant places were very large (ds = 1.70). Together, the present findings indicate that mere differences in descriptions of places with reference to their demographic composition are sufficient to elicit large differences in associated stereotype content and valence.

Incidence of Anxiety Determined by the Hamilton Anxiety Scale in Post-COVID-19 Patients After the Pandemic

Introduction: The coronavirus pandemic in 2019 represented a major global health emergency that brought with it multiple effects; both physically and mentally.1 Preceding studies in previous epidemics have revealed a deep and wide range of psychosocial consequences during outbreaks, with the human psyche being a commonly affected element. 2,3 Objective: To determine the incidence of anxiety in the sample population after the pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) by using the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS) in post-COVID-19 patients. Methodology: The HAS4 was applied (June - August 2023) to a convenience sample of 250 subjects of both sex and inhabitants of the city of Puebla (Mexico) who suffered from COVID-19 infection (SARS-Cov-2) in two private clinics located in the colonies of “San Isidro Castillotla” and “Romero Vargas”. The inclusion criteria were: age range of 18-56 years, having presented mild or moderate symptoms during their infection and not having been diagnosed with anxiety prior to the pandemic. Results: The final sample was 250 post-COVID-19 patients. The average age in the sample was 33.76 years. With a sex distribution of 110 (44%) men and 140 (56%) women. 60% of the population presented moderate symptoms and the rest presented mild symptoms during their coronavirus infection. Furthermore, according to the HAS, the following levels and frequency of presentation were observed: 8% of the population did not present anxiety, 28% were determined as mild anxiety, 44% as moderate anxiety, 18% as severe and 2% as very severe. Also, insomnia was the most predominant symptom. Conclusion: Most of the research carried out worldwide in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals that sociodemographic variables (in addition to the pathogenesis of the disease itself) influence the process of assimilating the situation and the response that the person develops to stress.5 In the present study, the entire population is residing in lower middle-class neighborhoods, a condition that evidently generated various forms of disadvantage in the face of the challenges posed by the health crisis. Studies point to the increase in anxiety diagnosis rates as a result of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Finally, in this research, one of the most frequent symptoms was insomnia (commonly linked to anxiety) and it was possible to identify that 92% presented some level of anxiety according to the HAS.

Tree-Based Machine Learning to Identify Predictors of Psoriasis Incidence at the Neighborhood Level: A Populational Study from Quebec, Canada.

Psoriasis is a major global health burden affecting ~ 60 million people worldwide. Existing studies on psoriasis focused on individual-level health behaviors (e.g. diet, alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise) and characteristics as drivers of psoriasis risk. However, it is increasingly recognized that health behavior arises in the context of larger social, cultural, economic and environmental determinants of health. We aimed to identify the top risk factors that significantly impact the incidence of psoriasis at the neighborhood level using populational data from the province of Quebec (Canada) and advanced tree-based machine learning (ML) techniques. Adult psoriasis patients were identified using International Classification of Disease (ICD)-9/10 codes from Quebec (Canada) populational databases for years 1997-2015. Data on environmental and socioeconomic factors 1year prior to psoriasis onset were obtained from the Canadian Urban Environment Health Consortium (CANUE) and Statistics Canada (StatCan) and were input as predictors into the gradient boosting ML. Model performance was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). Parsimonious models and partial dependence plots were determined to assess directionality of the relationship. The incidence of psoriasis varied geographically from 1.6 to 325.6/100,000 person-years in Quebec. The parsimonious model (top 9 predictors) had an AUC of 0.77 to predict high psoriasis incidence. Amongst top predictors, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, maximum daily temperature, proportion of females, soil moisture, urbanization, and distance to expressways had a negative association with psoriasis incidence. Nighttime light brightness had a positive association, whereas social and material deprivation indices suggested a higher psoriasis incidence in the middle socioeconomic class neighborhoods. This is the first study to highlight highly variable psoriasis incidence rates on a jurisdictional level and suggests that living environment, notably climate, vegetation, urbanization and neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics may have an association with psoriasis incidence.

Exploration, exploitation, and development: Developmental shifts in decision-making.

Decision-making requires balancing exploration with exploitation, yet children are highly exploratory, with exploration decreasing with development. Less is known about what drives these changes. We examined the development of decision-making in 188 three- to eight-year-old children (M = 64 months; 98 girls) and 26 adults (M = 19 years; 13 women). Children were recruited from ethnically diverse suburban middle-class neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio, USA. Results indicate that mature reward-based choices emerge relatively late in development, with children tending to over-explore. Computational modeling suggests that this exploration is systematic rather than random, as children tend to avoid repeating choices made on the previous trial. This pattern of exploration (reminiscent of novelty preference) decreased with development, whereas the tendency to exploit increased.

Social mix with a twist: Exploring new ways to alleviate pressure on stigmatized lower-class neighbourhoods

Social mix policy normally leads to the gentrification of poor neighbourhoods, which is neither beneficial for their original residents nor urban diversity. Conversely, in search of a possible way to ease mounting pressure on stigmatized neighbourhoods the article aims to uncover the middle class's attitude towards the construction of buildings with cheap rentals, a precondition of social mix policy. To this end, an innovative digital survey was conducted in 2020 in two recently developed inner-city neighbourhoods in the mid-sized Swedish city of Västerås. First, drawing on earlier research, our data confirms that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between young middle-class families, on the one hand, and their willingness to share “their own backyard” with presumptive low-income newcomers, on the other. Second, the analysis brings to the fore the fact that attitudes to social mixing are not just dependent on gender, but even on why one wants to move. Third, the predominance of an apparent elitist conception of housing is challenged by female and older residents who seek diversity. In sum, the findings imply that socially mixing certain kinds of middle-class neighbourhoods is possible if politicians fulfil three preconditions.

생태시민성 개념 정립을 위한 브라질 전환마을운동과 생태교육학의 공유 가치 분석

The accelerating ecological crisis affecting all human beings around the world has made existing social problems such as inequality, marginalization and violence more visible, and there is now a shared understanding that ecological and social crises are fundamentally one problem that requires a unified effort. This study aims to establish the foundation to systematize the characteristics of ecocitizenship of the 21st century by examining the Transition Town Movement in Brazil as an example of ecological transition and analyzing the values shared by ecopedagogy, which seeks a new educational paradigm, and the Transition Town Movement. The fundamental purpose of this study is to explore what philosophical and practical orientations ecocitizenship have and how it differs from existing approaches to addressing inequality. To this end, this article analyzed the Transition Network website, the global umbrella organization for the Transition Town movement, the Transition Brazil website, and further related literature. It then focused on identifying the goals and main characteristics of ecopedagogy, focusing on the Pedagogia da Terra of Moacir Gadotti, a pioneer of ecological pedagogy in Brazil. The results of the study revealed a set of shared values at the intersection of the Transition Town Movement and ecopedagogy. Meanwhile, while the Transition Movement in the U.K. was centered in middle-class neighborhoods, in Brazil it started in the favelas of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. And it was found that Transition Town Movement and ecopedagogy do not specifically target the poor, but presuppose their active participation as the same as other citizens, and consequently practice a more constructive approach to inequality.

Are households willing to adopt solar home systems also likely to use electricity more efficiently? Empirical insights from Accra, Ghana

The diffusion of renewable energy technology, such as solar home systems (SHS), has great potential to reduce GHG emissions. However, households’ energy efficiency (EE) and curtailment behavior (CB) play a crucial role in this process. This study examines the rooftop solar PV potential, households’ willingness to adopt SHS, and their EE/CB implications for mitigating CO2 emissions through SHS adoption. A survey of 216 households was carried out alongside rooftop solar PV potential analysis in a high-income gated estate and a middle-class neighborhood using secondary data. First, we find that rooftop solar PV has the potential to offset all grid electricity and its associated CO2 emissions for at least 63.5% of households. Secondly, the willingness to adopt SHS is lower in the high-income neighborhood than the middle-class ones. This dynamic is explained by the occupancy status, where most of those in the high-income neighborhood tend to be renters – a group known to have a low willingness to adopt SHS. Thirdly, our results affirm that energy-saving behavior is more common in a middle-class neighborhood where the propensity to adopt SHS is also high. Our results suggest that households willing to adopt SHS are more likely to engage in EE/CB. However, this tendency is common among middle-class households, who, in practice, may not be able to afford the SHS. Our findings underscore the need for more targeted policy interventions for SHS, and EE and CB among homeowners, high-income neighborhoods, and real estate developers.

Novel Methods of Identifying Individual and Neighborhood Risk Factors for Loss to Follow-Up After Ophthalmic Screening.

Residence in a middle-class neighborhood correlated with lower follow-up compared with residence in more affluent neighborhoods. The most common explanations for not following up were the process of making an appointment and lack of symptoms. To explore which individual-level and neighborhood-level factors influence follow-up as recommended after positive ophthalmic and primary care screening in a vulnerable population using novel methodologies. From 2017 to 2018, 957 participants were screened for ophthalmic disease and cardiovascular risk factors as part of the Real-Time Mobile Teleophthalmology study. Individuals who screened positive for either ophthalmic or cardiovascular risk factors were contacted to determine whether or not they followed up with a health care provider. Data from the Social Vulnerability Index, a novel virtual auditing system, and personal demographics were collected for each participant. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine which factors significantly differed between participants who followed up and those who did not. As a whole, the study population was more socioeconomically vulnerable than the national average (mean summary Social Vulnerability Index score=0.81). Participants whose neighborhoods fell in the middle of the national per capita income distribution had a lower likelihood of follow-up compared with those who resided in the most affluent neighborhoods (relative risk ratio=0.21, P -value<0.01). Participants cited the complicated process of making an eye care appointment and lack of symptoms as the most common reasons for not following up as instructed within 4 months. Residence in a middle-class neighborhood, difficulty accessing eye care appointments, and low health literacy may influence follow-up among vulnerable populations.

The Eager Conformist, the Well-Rounded Collaborator, and the Independent Innovator: A Qualitative Exploration of Teachers’ Conceptions of the Ideal Student, the Hidden Curriculum, and Social Class

ABSTRACT This paper explores teachers’ conceptions of the ideal student, aspects of the hidden curriculum, and how each varies by neighborhood-level social class. I used a thematic analysis to analyze 30 semi-structured interviews with public elementary school teachers in the United States. Emergent themes indicate the creation of archetypes regarding the ideal student, their connection to social class, and their effect on the hidden curriculum. Most notably, teachers teaching in lower-class neighborhoods idealized the eager conformist; teachers teaching in middle-class neighborhoods idealized the well-rounded collaborator; and teachers teaching in upper-class neighborhoods idealized the independent innovator. Findings suggest that teachers’ conceptions of the ideal student reflect the social conditions of the neighborhood where they teach, which impacts aspects of their teaching pedagogy and classroom-management techniques.

Backyards Are a Way to Promote Environmental Justice and Biodiversity Conservation in Brazilian Cities

Brazilian cities feature quite unequal neighborhoods. Middle-class neighborhoods have better infrastructure than those inhabited by low-income families. These inequalities are not limited to social and economic scopes; they also reach the environmental one. Tree cover in these neighborhoods is often correlated to residents’ socioeconomic status. Injustice in access to trees deprives Brazilians of their ecosystem services. Furthermore, the scarcity of tree cover in the poorest neighborhoods means less support for biodiversity. Thus, backyards can be planned to form vegetation patches capable of providing urban populations with access to green areas, as well as working as wildlife habitats.

Sexual Governmentality and the Woman at/as Risk in Revolutionary Egypt

How can a collective sexual assault that took place in the mid-1990s in front of a private school in a middle-class neighborhood of Cairo help us reconsider the “circles of hell” that proliferated in protests during the Egyptian January 25 Revolution? This article weaves together three past and contemporary instances of sexual harassment and assault in educational settings to counter the social/political dichotomy that has dominated scholarly discussions about public sexual violence in Egypt and to situate these forms of violence in relation to broader historical processes, including the development of women’s education and mass public transportation and the emergence of the modern city in the late nineteenth century. Building on the work of Michel Foucault and Fatima Mernissi, the essay regards public sexual violence as a mechanism of sexual governmentality aimed at shaping and managing women’s conduct through the conceptualization of women as simultaneously at risk and a risk in public space. Drawing on research conducted in Cairo in 2014–15, I examine the ways in which the activist initiatives OpAntiSH and HarassMap subverted these notions through projects of direct action and community intervention that challenged notions of feminine vulnerability and masculine protection while creating horizontal structures of care in the spaces of protest and in the neighborhood. I conclude by discussing how these approaches can contribute to decolonizing feminism and reinvigorate anti-sexual-violence organizing in the current #MeToo moment.

아동의 동네 안전(Neighborhood Safety) 경험에 관한 포토보이스 연구

This paper was undertaken to investigate holistic-understanding on the experiences of children of neighborhood safety and to provide practical implications and design social policy related to their safety. In children’s perspective, this paper may provide some implications to alternative on safe support for children through analyzing their existential experiences. Using photo-voice method, this paper is based on group interview method with six individuals who file ages between 4th to 6th grade of elementary school. They have lived in Seoul City and Kyung-gi District. For reflecting the characteristics of community, research participants come from low-income, middle class and new urban neighborhood of community. As a result, four topics and 25 sub-topics are as follows. First topic is ‘discovering topos-philia, familiar living places’. Children have felt safety at familiar places. Second thing is ‘socially arranged safety devices and facilities’. Children have perceived socially arranged safety devices and facilities in their neighborhood as a safety area. Third topic is ‘being neighbors to protect’. Children had safety experiences when they were with neighbors. Last thing is ‘seeking self-preservation’. Children always have tried to protect self according to one’s own standards. The first thing(‘discovering topos-philia, familiar living places’) and third thing(‘being neighbors to protect’) and last thing(‘seeking self-preservation’) among above topics are new findings. Three findings give some meaningful implications to design social policy and program on neighborhood safety for children. Based on these results, some practical suggestions, research on neighborhood safety for children, developing safety program based on topos-philia, using those who has social networks, extending radius of their life and safety devices within their neighbors, are provided for neighborhood safety for children. In this context, this paper would be established to research, program and social policy for neighborhood safety for children.

Averting, stepping-up or shielding: school strategies and intensive minority parenting among second-generation minority Danish parents

ABSTRACT Based on ethnographic fieldwork and life-story interviews, this article examines parenting and school strategies of the emergent second generation of minority Danish parents and how they are shaped by their generational position. Across socio-economic differences, the participating parents are highly engaged in their children’s schooling and well-being, practising an ‘intensive parenting’ widespread in the contemporary social generation and also dominant among majority Danish parents. Yet they also draw on their first-hand knowledge of being minority children in Danish schools and society to protect their children against discrimination against Muslims and negative influence from both majority and minority Danes. The article suggests that the parents thus engage in ‘intensive minority parenting’ and employ different school strategies: an ‘averting strategy’ characterised by fending off negative influences and antagonists in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods; a ‘stepping-up strategy’ characterised by performing middle-class parenthood in (upper)middle-class neighbourhoods; and a ‘shielding strategy’ characterised by carving out a safe new cultural space in ‘free schools’ with other second-generation parents. Differing from the paths of ‘segmented assimilation’, these strategies do not depend on ethnic background, but rather on the parents’ current social environment and interrelated factors of their own experiences with school, further education, their family and broader society.

Obesity Heterogeneity by Neighborhood Context in a Largely Latinx Sample

Neighborhood socioeconomic context where Latinx children live may influence body weight status. Los Angeles County and Orange County of Southern California both are on the list of the top ten counties with the largest Latinx population in the USA. This heterogeneity allowed us to estimate differential impacts of neighborhood environment on children’s body mass index z-scores by race/ethnicity using novel methods and a rich data source. We geocoded pediatric electronic medical record data from a predominantly Latinx sample and characterized neighborhoods into unique residential contexts using latent profile modeling techniques. We estimated multilevel linear regression models that adjust for comorbid conditions and found that a child’s place of residence independently associates with higher body mass index z-scores. Interactions further reveal that Latinx children living in Middle-Class neighborhoods have higher BMI z-scores than Asian and Other Race children residing in the most disadvantaged communities. Our findings underscore the complex relationship between community racial/ethnic composition and neighborhood socioeconomic context on body weight status during childhood.

Fathering and children's relational aggression: Moderating effects of children's temperament and gender.

In this exploratory study, we analyzed the contribution of fathering to relational aggression (RA) in middle childhood and the moderating role of children's temperament and gender. Participants (N = 234; 46% girls) were attending public elementary school (mean age = 8.15; SD = 1.23) in middle-class neighborhoods in two Spanish cities. Fathers provided information about their parenting practices using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, parents gave data on their child's temperament using the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire and children provided information about their peers' aggressive behavior using the Mini Direct Indirect Aggression Inventory. Fathering dimensions considered were Authoritative Cold, Authoritative Warm, Physical Punishment, and Insecurity; temperament dimensions considered were negative affect (NA), effortful control (EC), activity (AC), and shyness (SH). Gender, fathering, and temperament dimensions additively accounted for a significant proportion of the variance observed in RA. Several significant interactions suggested that the effect of fathering on RA was moderated by temperament and, in some cases, by children's gender. NA increased the potential risk of Authoritative Cold fathering (CF) and, in boys only, of Insecure fathering, while EC potentiated the protective effect of Authoritative-Warm fathering and, in boys only, buffered the risk effect of CF. SH buffered the risk effect of CF and decreased the protective effect of Authoritative Warm fathering on RA. Lastly, AC also buffered the risk effect of CF on RA. Results are discussed in light of the protective or the vulnerability role of temperament and in relation to models that explain sensitivity differences to environmental contexts.

'Now you will understand what it is like to be confined': Did COVID-19 lockdowns affect perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalizations? A report from Argentina.

Lockdowns have been one of the government's primary measures to control COVID-19, especially during the initial waves of the pandemic, but there is concern on the impact of lockdowns on people's mental health. Confinement is still today the reality of many people with severe mental illness in many places of the world. Given that the general population experienced confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought to explore if that affected perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalizations. About 134 residents from middle-class neighborhoods in urban settings in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were surveyed. Participants were asked if they felt emotionally affected by the pandemic and lockdown, and about their perceptions of long-term psychiatric hospitalizations. Association between personal emotional impact by the pandemic or lockdown with perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalization were analyzed using chi-square test. Qualitative analysis of pandemic and lockdown effects was held. Respondents tended to overlap the emotional effects of the pandemic and the lockdown. Some responses explicitly referred to confinement. No association was observed between emotional impact by the pandemic or lockdown and perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalization among the sample. The general population's perceptions of long-term psychiatric hospitalization do not appear to be affected by the first-hand experience of confinement, which suggest persistence of stigma, and the need to reconsider public policies and actions that attempt to impact on it.

"Appagalo" a Customized Mobile Health Intervention (mHealth) for Smoking Cessation in Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Almost 30% of Chilean women report cigarette smoking with important repercussions on their health. Design and test a mobile phone intervention for smoking cessation in young women. A mobile application (app) was created using the best available evidence and consumer input. Its effectiveness was assessed through a randomized clinical trial. Women 18 to 44years old from middle-class neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile. Inclusion criteria were intention to quit cigarette smoking in the following month and having a smartphone cell phone. Women with positive screening for risky alcohol consumption were excluded. App with content to support cigarette smoking cessation over 6 months. The control arm included an app that delivered general messages to promote permanence in the study. Telephone follow-up was performed at 6 weeks, and at 3 and 6 months after randomization. No smoking in the past 7days at 6weeks from enrolment. Intention-to-treat analysis was carried out using SPSS 17.0 with a significance level set at .05. 309 women entered the study. Mean number of cigarettes smoked in a day was 8.8. 58.6% of the participants (n = 181) completed the follow-up for the primary outcome. With intention-to-treat analysis, 9.7% of participants in the intervention group reported not having smoked any cigarettes in the last 7days vs 3.2% in the control group (RR 2.98 CI 95% 1.11-8.0, P = .022). Additionally, 12.3% vs 1.9% of the participants in the intervention group and control group reported continuous abstinence at 6weeks, respectively (RR 6.29 95% CI 1.9-20.8, P < .001). Continuous abstinence was also significant at 6 months (P-value of .036). The "Appagalo" app is an effective tool to support smoking cessation in young women. It is a simple mHealth alternative for smoking cessation that can contribute to improving women's health in the Americas and worldwide.

Residential waste segregation: The interconnection with SDG 2 zero hunger

In the scientific literature, academics and practitioners have advocated the interconnection between Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) and composting. However, despite the importance of separating organic waste at home and this activity's contribution to producing quality compost, relatively few scholars have explored its interconnection with SDG 2. To fill this gap, this article explores the potential of waste segregation in residential areas to meet SDG 2. This quantitative, non-experimental case study is based on an exploratory survey conducted with residents of two middle-class neighborhoods in the capital city of a state in northwestern Mexico, adjacent to the United States of America. The survey aims to measure the practices and knowledge of the participants related to home separation and composting and their understanding of SDG 2. Findings show that the interconnection between residential waste segregation and SDG 2 is harder to prove, even though waste segregation is essential to composting. Results also suggest that SDG 2 is usually pursued on national agendas; thus, it is unlikely that the home segregation of organic waste for small-scale home composting may influence national progress toward SDG 2. Still, this study would provide valuable insights for policymakers to develop comprehensive waste segregation policies that align with SDG 2.

Spatial Disadvantage and Racial Disparities in Gun Homicides.

A spatially disadvantaged census tract is one that is surrounded by disadvantaged tracts. More spatially disadvantaged neighborhoods may experience more violence, independent of their own level of disadvantage, and majority Black middle-class neighborhoods are more likely to be spatially disadvantaged than majority white neighborhoods. The purpose of this paper is to study how much of the racial difference in gun homicide rates between majority Black and majority white middle-class neighborhoods can be explained by differences in spatial disadvantage. To study this, comparable majority Black and majority white tracts were matched to understand how gun homicide rates differ in neighborhoods with similar levels of disadvantage. Further matching on spatial disadvantage reduced the disparity in gun homicides between majority Black and majority white middle-class neighborhoods, suggesting that spatial disadvantage accounts for some but not all of the disparity.

The Price of Inclusion: Evidence from Housing Developer Behavior

Abstract In many cities, incentives and regulations lead developers to integrate low-income housing into market-rate buildings. How cost-effective are these policies? I study take-up of a tax incentive in New York City using a model in which developers trade off between tax savings and pre-tax income. Estimating the model using policy variation and microdata on development from 2003 to 2015, I find a citywide marginal fiscal cost of $1.6 million per low-income unit. Differences in neighborhoods, not developer incidence, explain the cost premium over other housing programs. Weighing costs against estimates of neighborhood effects, I conclude middle-class neighborhoods offer “opportunity bargains.”