New Approaches for Understanding Neighborhood Effects in the Developmental Sciences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Neighborhoods have long been considered central contexts for children’s development, with numerous studies demonstrating robust place-based disparities in children’s outcomes (Leventhal & Dupéré, 2019). Despite the existence of rich, multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks for conceptualizing these disparities (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Minh et al., 2017; Sampson, Morenoff, & Gannon-Rowley, 2002), empirical research on neighborhoods has largely been limited to narrow, easy-to-measure compositional characteristics (e.g., Census poverty rates). Building on recent advances in data availability and methods, this panel introduces new approaches for deepening understanding of neighborhood effects on diverse populations of children around the U.S. The first paper uses “neighborhood-centered” analyses to group preschool communities in nine cities based on a set of theoretically-motivated resource, social and organizational, and structural variables (e.g., greenspace, physical order, segregation), and then examines links between these profiles and low-income children's development over the school year. The second paper uses fixed effects models to explore whether changes in a variety of neighborhood characteristics (e.g., resources, crime, educational quality, pollution) in a national sample predict children’s academic and behavioral outcomes. Finally, the third paper focuses on a national sample of Mexican-origin children to explore links between the availability of neighborhood institutional resources (e.g., non-profits, libraries, museums) and STEM achievement across elementary and middle school. The authors of these papers include both junior and senior faculty at multiple institutions. Presentations will be followed by an audience Q&A and broader discussion regarding the future of neighborhood research in the developmental sciences led by a long-standing expert in the field.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Terri Sabol, Northwestern University

Discussant

• Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Columbia University

Individual Presentations

• A Multidimensional, Neighborhood-Centered Approach to Understanding Low-Income Preschoolers’ School Communities - Presenting Author: Dana Charles McCoy, Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Terri Sabol, Northwestern University; Non-Presenting Author: Wendy Wei, SRCD Pre-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), Harvard University; Non-Presenting Author: Andrea Kinghorn Busby, Brigham Young University; Non-Presenting Author: Emily Hanno, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City

• Using Within- and Across-neighborhood Change to Assess How Neighborhood Conditions Affect Children’s Achievement - Presenting Author: Rebekah Levine Coley, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Portia Miller, University of Pittsburgh; Non-Presenting Author: Bryn Spielvogel, University of Utah; Non-Presenting Author: Laura Betancur, Iowa State University; Non-Presenting Author: Lorraine Reese Blatt, University of Pittsburgh; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh

• The Role of Neighborhood Institutional Resources in Mexican-origin Children’s STEM Achievement - Presenting Author: Fei Tan, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Tama Leventhal, Tufts University