Considering Alternative Measures of Neighborhood Effects to Understand Local Context

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Sixteen
  In Roundtable Session: Geographies of Race and Inequality in Education (Table 1)

Abstract

Since the 1990s, research has emerged advancing the idea that the neighborhoods in which children live, play, and go to school, matter to their wellbeing. Research into this relationship tends to focus on community risk factors based on community demographics, typically operationalized with a composite of variables from the census, relating to income, education, and English language ability. However, I am interested in how place (the built environment) may have an impact on the well-being of students. In our study community, typical demographic risk factors were not strong predictors but factors like park and grocery access showed some promise. The next steps include finding more developed measures of the built environment to improve our understanding of place in students' well-being.

Authors

• Menissah E. Bigsby, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Louis M. Gomez, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author