Urban sociology is the study of life and social interaction with metropolises and their role in development. Neighborhood effects refer to a concept used to explain whether neighborhoods affect an individual’s behavior, either positively or negatively. Neighborhoods play an important role, especially in children’s development in less fortunate settings. Poverty in the community is associated with many children dropping out of school, others dealing with drugs, and joining gang members. The effects of neighborhood tend to accumulate as one ages. Other studies tend to disapprove of this, arguing that moving children to more affluent areas leads to discrimination, lowering their self-esteem and affecting their performance.
A study was carried out to determine neighborhoods’ long-term effects by moving those living in public houses to better communities. This initiative was called the moving to opportunity (MTO) (Jens et al., 2013). This study showed that after ten years, MTO led to improved physical and mental health (Jens et al., 2013). Determining the effect of the neighborhood on behavior is problematic since a majority of people have a choice on where to live.
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The purpose of the research was to evaluate the long term effect of moving parents earning low income to less disadvantaged houses using data from the united states department of housing and urban development. Apart from showing that the change in neighborhood improved physical and mental health, there is no proof that it enhanced one’s economic state (Linah & Ham, 2013). Neither does it offer children’s educational achievement (Jens et al., 2013). There was also some gender difference whereby girls were seen to perform better than boys.
The concept of family poverty is more seen in black families than in Hispanic and white families (Veronique & Tama, 2019). Most of which live in high poverty neighborhoods. According to some scholars, these neighborhoods are associated with impoverished employment schemes, violence and mobility, and poor marriage practices. These neighborhoods do not provide role models to children that grow in them either.
Theories have been hypothesized that explain how neighborhoods affect the growth of children. One of those theories is the stress theory that lays emphasis on the significance of exposure to toxins, for example, Lead and also social and physiological conditions, and explains this to be violence (Veronique & Tama, 2019). Another theory is the social organization theory that bases its argument on the significance of role models in society and helps eliminate disastrous behavior among the children.
The third theory is the institutional theory that emphasizes the community’s institutions such as schools and police stations. It explains their role in community change and how their presence affects the growth of young people (Jens et al., 2013). The last theory is the epidemic theory based on the ability of young people to binge disastrous behavior.
The stress theory emphasizes the outcomes of violence, such as asthma induced by air pollutants (Linah & Ham, 2013). These theories also support the idea of parents coming together and sharing values, which will help bring up their children and protect them from potential dangers. Family management also plays a vital role when it comes to bringing up children (Linah & Ham, 2013). Parents from the dangerous neighborhood will develop an extra measure to ensure that their children are safe. Such as additional protection against violence.
Though most of the studies on the effects of the neighborhood on community development are conducted on adolescents, it is quite clear that this influence begins before due to the children’s interaction in preschool and child daycare.
Estimating precisely the neighborhood’s effect on the community is hard, though this is usually done by looking into the society’s organizational ability and level of violence. A significant setback when determining the neighborhood’s effect on young people is that parents have to make their children’s choices (Jens et al., 2013). They choose where the children stay and whether to place them in daycare and do so. So the effects that are argued to be caused by the environment may be due to parents’ selection (Jens et al., 2013). Another setback is that most rural areas have been left out in the current research, yet they also play a role in how neighborhood affects community development.
In the MTO activity, scholars found out that the number of youths arrested due to violent attacks. This implies that improving the neighborhood’s conditions is vital for the growth of young individuals. Both family poverty and neighborhood poverty can take considerable risk to the most prevalent community, the black community (Jens et al., 2013). To a lesser extent, the Hispanic community has a higher chance of growing in poverty than the whites.
Although it is clear that neighborhood affects the community’s growth, there are still some questions that still need answers. Again, neighborhood alone does not play a role when it comes to the development of the community. Other factors such as mental health and family poverty can play a role, too, when it comes to shaping an individual. Researches claim that moving from poverty-stricken areas to less disadvantageous regions improves children’s physical and physiological health. It also reduces the risk of adolescent-associated violent crimes.
References
Jens, L., Greg, D., Jeffrey, K. (2013). Long term effects of neighborhood effects on low-income families evidence from moving to opportunity. NBER working paper series . https://www.nber.org/papers/w18772
Veronique, D. & Tama L. (2019). Neighborhood effects on children’s development in experimental and non-experimental research. Annual review of developmental psychology . Vol.1:148-156. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085221
Linah, B. & Ham, M. (2013). Understanding neighborhood effects: selection bias and residential mobility. Neighborhood effect research . 8-16.
