Neighborhoods, Latino Family Life, and Adaptation Notes

Neighborhoods and Latino Family Life and Adaptation

What is a Neighborhood?

People define neighborhoods in various ways, ranging from their own house to a few houses around, a few blocks, or even their entire city. Administratively, neighborhoods are defined using census tracts, established by the US Bureau of Census, typically encompassing 2,500 to 8,000 people. This allows researchers to study the effects of neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics. Zip codes, on the other hand, cover a much larger population, ranging from 20,000 to 300,000 people.

Why Neighborhoods Matter for Child Development

Children's wellbeing and adjustment are significantly influenced by their neighborhood context. The experiences of children differ based on the neighborhoods they inhabit.

A Tale of Two Zip Codes

The "Tale of Two Zip Codes" highlights disparities, such as differences in life expectancy, based on where individuals live.

Race & Redlining

Systemic racism is an important factor to consider when examining neighborhoods, particularly concerning housing segregation.
Location mentioned: 900 N Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Developmental Theory: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Model emphasizes the various systems that affect development, adapted to focus on Black youth development and attachment processes in context:

• Chronosystem: Encompasses the dimension of time as it relates to a child's development.
• Macrosystem: Includes cultural values, laws, customs.
• Exosystem: External environments in which the child is not directly involved, but which affect the child nonetheless (e.g., parents' workplace).
• Mesosystem: Interactions between different parts of the child's microsystem.
• Microsystem: The immediate setting in which the child lives (e.g., family, school, peers).

The model incorporates various elements:

• Neighbors
• Foster care system
• Mentors
• Physical & mental health systems
• Racial ethnic identity
• Justice
• Mass media
• Peers
• EA
• Spiritual community
• Policy
• Internal working model
• Teachers
• Systemic racism
• Parents
• Attachment
• Health providers
• Parents' workplace
• Public policy
• Social Media
• Black Lives Matter movement
• Juvenile justice system
• Extended family & fictive kin
• Historical & intergenerational trauma
• School system
• Cultural strengths
• Colourism

Ecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979)

Garcia Coll et al.'s Integrative Model

The integrative model for studying developmental competencies in minority children includes:

1. Racism, Prejudice, Discrimination, Oppression
2. Social Position Variables: Race, Social Class, Ethnicity, Gender
3. Segregation: Residential, Economic, Social, Psychological
4. Child Characteristics: Age, Temperament, Health Status, Biological Factors, Physical Characteristics
5. Adaptive Culture: Traditions & Cultural Legacies, Economic & Political Historics, Migration & Acculturation, Current Contextual
6. Promoting/Inhibiting Environments: Schools, Neighborhoods, Health Care
7. Family Structure & Roles, Family Values, Beliefs & Goals, Racial Socialization, Socioeconomic Status
8. Developmental Competencies: Cognitive, Social, Emotional, Linguistic, Biculturalism, Coping with Racism Demands

Inhibiting vs. Promoting Environments

Inhibiting Environments:

• Limited access to institutional resources.
• Residential segregation: perpetuates racial and ethnic inequality.
• Concentrated poverty.
• Physical decay.

Promoting Environments:

• Access to institutional resources.
• Access to a co-ethnic community.

Aspects of Neighborhoods Affecting Child Development

• Broken Window Theory
• Neighborhood Disorder
• Norms and Collective Efficacy Theory
• Ethnic and Racial Concentration

Broken Windows Theory (Wilson & Kelling, 1982)

Disorder goes untreated leading to:

1. Citizens becoming fearful and withdrawing from the community.
2. Informal social control decreases.
3. Disorder and crime increase.

Reference: Hinkle, J. C., & Weisburd, D. (2008)

Neighborhood Disorder (Wandersman & Nation, 1988)

Observed or perceived physical and social features that signal the breakdown of order and social control, undermining the quality of life:

• Social: Groups of idle people, public intoxication, gang activity, street prostitution, conflict and fighting, hostile arguing.
• Physical: Vacant or abandoned housing, vandalized or run-down buildings, abandoned cars, graffiti, litter/trash.

Norms and Collective Efficacy Theory (Social Disorganization Theory)

The extent of community-level social connections, including mutual trust, shared values, and residents' willingness to intervene on behalf of the community.

When norms and collective efficacy are high, adolescents are less likely to engage in crime and vandalism and more likely to display behaviors such as school engagement and civic participation.

References: Sampson, 1992; Sampson et al., 1997; Shaw & McKay, 1942

Neighborhood Ethnic Concentration

High concentration can lead to high mutual trust and better social relationships, but also has potential dysfunctions. Diversity limits people's ability to develop strong social relationships (Social Disorganization Theory, Shaw & McKay, 1942). Same language and cultural background fosters more cultural resources and a sense of belonging.

Pathways of Neighborhood Effects on Youth Outcomes

Neighborhood influences youth outcomes through:

• Institutions: quality, quantity, diversity, and affordability of community resources (e.g., schools).
• Relationships and ties: parental attributes, social networks and behavior, and home environment characteristics.
• Norms and collective efficacy: formal and informal institutions monitor residents' behavior and physical threats.

Institutional Resources

Neighborhood contexts influence institutions such as:

• Schools (quality, climate, norms, and demographic makeup).
  • Example: Children who moved to neighborhoods with fewer poor residents were more likely to attend schools with higher pass rates (Leventhal & Brooks‐Gunn, 2004).
• Health and social services (availability, quality, and affordability).
  • Example: Residence in poor and middle-income neighborhoods is associated with more emergency room visits than residence in affluent neighborhoods (Leventhal & Brooks‐Gunn, 2004).
• Recreational and social programs (parks, sports programs, art and theater programs, and community centers).
  • Example: Youth programs and after-school care have beneficial effects on adjustment (especially for low-income youth) (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2000).

The effect of school and property taxes. Example schools Ridge Rondout having 9,794 per child and another school having 28, 639 per child.

Parents

Neighborhood disadvantages (parent 1 distress, parent 2 distress, parental conflict) can affect parent child conflict and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Support Networks

Support networks (job referral networks and monitoring and caring for children) can act as pathways from neighborhood conditions like violence, disorder, and poverty to youth development, either directly, or via low parental functioning.

Parental Supervision and Monitoring

Neighborhood conditions (violence, poverty, and danger) can influence parenting behaviors (warmth, harshness, supervision, and monitoring) which in turn affect youth development.

Example: Parents in dangerous neighborhoods may use restrictive monitoring techniques. Parents who moved from low to middle income neighborhoods used less restrictive parenting practices.

Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Study (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2011)

Main question: What are the consequences of moving from high-rise public housing in high-poverty neighborhoods to either private housing in similar neighborhoods or private housing in low-poverty neighborhoods?

Methods

• Experimental (Treatment) group: Vouchers and special assistance to move to only low-poverty neighborhoods.
• Comparison group (Section 8): Vouchers (geographically unrestricted program).
• Control group: No vouchers.

The study included parental and family characteristics by treatment group. The mean parental age was around 35 years old, with the majority being female. Parental race/ethnicity was approximately 50% African American and 46% Latino/Latina. Around 65% of parents were high school graduates/GED holders, and employment rates were around 25%. Common reasons for wanting to move included better schools for children and getting away from drugs and gangs.

Measures

Neighborhood economic and social conditions were assessed, including:

• Neighborhood physical and social disorder (rated on a scale from 1 to 3).
• Neighborhood satisfaction (rated on a scale from 1 to 5).
• Neighborhood quality (rated by interviewers).

Parents' mental health was measured using depressive and distress/anxiety symptoms scales (rated from 1 to 5). Children's mental health was assessed using behavior problems scales (rated 0 to 2), including:

• Anxious/Depressive
• Dependency
• Headstrong
• Antisocial

Family economic well-being was evaluated using current parental employment status, welfare receipt, and income for the past year.

Results

Neighborhood characteristics at follow-up by treatment group:

• Median family income varied across groups.
• Fraction poor was lower in the experimental group.
• Disorder was lower in the experimental group.
• Satisfaction was higher in the experimental group.
• The external environment was rated as better in the experimental group.

Effects on Parental Mental Health and Family Economic Well-Being:

• The experimental group showed reduced depressive and distress/anxiety symptoms.

Effects on Children's Mental Health:

• The experimental group showed reduced anxious/depressed behaviors.
• The experimental group showed reduced dependency behaviors.
• The Section 8 group showed reduced headstrong behaviors.

Take Home Points

The most significant benefits of the MTO program were noneconomic.

• Parents who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods experienced greater mental health (fewer distress and depressive symptoms).
• The mental health impact of MTO was greater for children than for parents.
  • Boys aged 8-13: Reduction in depressive/anxiety and dependency problems.
  • Overall: Fewer headstrong problems
• Lack of findings for girls: Differential exposure to neighborhood contexts (more restricted).
• Lack of findings for youth aged 14-18 years: Ability to travel back to their old neighborhood, disruption of peer networks
  • Residential mobility may have negative health affects due to disturbance of social networks
• Younger children may benefit more from their parents' superior mental health.

Siempre Pendiente: Latina Mothers' Parenting in High-Risk Neighborhoods (Ceballo et al., 2012)

Main questions: What parenting practices are identified by Latina mothers in response to neighborhood stressors and community violence? Are there parenting goals or culturally specific meanings that Latina mothers attribute to their parenting in dangerous neighborhoods?

Methods

• 49 Latina mothers in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan.
• Mothers with a child in the 4th or 5th grade.
• Lived in two census tracts where 28% and 27% of families lived below the poverty threshold.
• Biological mothers (92%), grandmothers (4%), and legal guardians (4%).
• Mean age: 35 years (SD=5.75); 63% were married; 26% were single parenting
• 57% were born outside the U.S.
• 49% of the mothers reported annual personal incomes under $10,000, 49% had received government assistance at some time, and 51% had not acquired high school diplomas.
• Research design: Qualitative

Social Context Model (Kotchick & Forehand, 2002)

Considers factors such as Social Context, Family, Child, Parenting which includes the effects of Financial Standing, Marital Relationship and Temperament, Physical Characteristics. Also includes Ethnicity, Culture, Parental Psychological Functioning, Illness Attachment Parent History Family Stress Life Events, Neighborhood Quality, and Socioeconomic Status of the Community.

Interview Questions

1. Do you feel that your neighborhood has a positive effect on your child? How?
2. Do you feel that your neighborhood has a negative effect on your child? How?
3. What are the most serious dangers faced by children in your neighborhood?
4. Do you feel you can help your child handle the dangers s/he faces in your neighborhood? How?
5. How often do you worry about the dangers your child faces in your neighborhood?
6. Do you talk to your child about the dangers in your neighborhood? How often?
7. In order for kids to be successful growing up in your neighborhood, what advice would you give a mother raising a son?
8. In order for kids to be successful growing up in your neighborhood, what advice would you give a mother raising a daughter?
9. What do you do to try to prevent your neighborhood from having a harmful effect on your child?
10. Are there other adults in your neighborhood who guide your child toward success?

Coding Categories for Parenting Practices and Goals

Major Findings

Four parenting strategies:

• (a) Strict monitoring: strict curfews, intensive monitoring
• (b) Physical and social withdrawal from the neighborhood: limiting contact with neighbors; limit time in the neighborhood.
• (c) Engagement in positive, enriching activities.
• (d) An emphasis on parent–child communication: communication on violence: warnings & explanations: stressed the need to talk frequently, believed in the importance of listening, and asked their child many questions

Strict monitoring

61% discussed strict monitoring as a critical part of their parenting arsenal and their efforts to keep children safe.

Mothers described monitoring as keeping a “tight leash”, supervising children “24 hours a day”, keeping children “in my eyesight”, and having their child “always with me . . . never, never goes alone, never”.

Withdrawal Strategies

35% of the mothers engaged in withdrawal strategies, consisting of physical or social withdrawal from their neighborhood.

Several mothers advised their children not to talk to anyone and certainly “don’t trust anyone.” Limited or avoided communication with neighbors.

Engagement in Enriching Activities

20% of mothers reported purposely engaging their children in positive activities, including school- or community-based sports teams, church activities, school programs (e.g., musical concerts, tutoring).

Communication

63% of mothers declared that parent – child communication was an imperative for successful parenting.

Discussed honesty and being supportive of the children. Some mothers warned about Neighborhood Violence providing explanations so children can digest the seriousness.

Limited Communication

Some mothers would avoid communication completely about the neighborhood violence for fear of making a situation worse or scaring their children.

Take Home Points

• Neighborhood can impact child development directly or indirectly via parenting.
• There are multiple aspects of neighborhood that are associated with youth development.
• Adaptive parenting is important in disadvantaged and dangerous neighborhood.