Diversity in Children's Development across Neighborhood Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The link between neighborhood context, particularly socioeconomic conditions, and children’s development is well documented (not withstanding debates about causal links; e.g., Leventhal & Dupéré, 2019). Neighborhood researchers, however, have called for more attention to understanding a broader range and diversity of experiences across both individuals and neighborhood contexts. Accordingly, this symposium brings together researchers using large, national datasets to take-up this challenge. The first paper, addressing racial/ethnic and family income differences in the U.S., explores variation in the presence of neighborhood educational, health, and social services, environmental hazards, quality schools, and crime among other factors in a sample of school-age children. The second paper also considers racial/ethnic differences in the U.S. and the role of neighborhood resources such as libraries, museums, and non-profits in promoting youth’s post-secondary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. The third paper highlights multiple aspects of contextual diversity by using data from India and Peru to examine mediators of urban-rural achievement gaps across the elementary and secondary school years. The final paper considers temporal and spatial diversity within the U.S. by investigating associations among neighborhood change (sociodemographic features, social processes, and institutional resources), residential mobility (between-, within-, or no-neighborhood moves), family income, and elementary school children’s development. Together, these papers should provide a solid foundation for expanding research on neighborhood contexts and children’s development by providing new insights on individual, contextual, and temporal diversity. In addition, policy and practice implications will be highlighted.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Chair

• Tama Leventhal, Tufts University

Individual Presentations

• Racial/Ethnic and Income Differences in Children’s Neighborhood Resources and Stressors - Presenting Author: Bryn Spielvogel, University of Utah; Non-Presenting Author: Rebekah Levine Coley, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Naoka Carey, Boston College

• Breaking Down the STEM Pathway: The Contribution of Neighborhood Institutional Resources to Diverse Racial/Ethnic Youth’s STEM Attainment - Presenting Author: Sae Hyun Oh, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Tama Leventhal, Tufts University

• The Experiences of Child Poverty in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Community Mechanisms of Urbanicity and Academic Achievement - Presenting Author: Laura Betancur, Iowa State University; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh

• Residential Mobility, Family Poverty, Neighborhood Change, and Elementary School Children’s Development - Presenting Author: Julius Anastasio, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Tama Leventhal, Tufts University