Neighborhoods, employment, and welfare use: Assessing the influence of neighborhood socioeconomic composition

Rebecca Casciano, Douglas S. Massey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

46 Scopus citations

Abstract

We draw upon data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study to examine the effect of neighborhood socioeconomic composition on two key economic outcomes, and in doing so to test the validity of the index of concentration at the extremes (ICE) as a measure of neighborhood circumstances. Methodologically, we find that the index succinctly captures economic variation within neighborhoods in a way that avoids problems of colinearity that have characterized prior studies. Neighborhoods can be characterized as falling on a continuum ranging from concentrated disadvantage to concentrated advantage; the ICE measure does a good job capturing this variation and differentiating the neighborhood circumstances experienced by different groups. Substantively, we show that neighborhood economic circumstances are related to new mothers' welfare use and employment, above and beyond their individual socioeconomic characteristics.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)544-558
Number of pages15
JournalSocial Science Research
Volume37
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Education
  • Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

  • Concentrated affluence
  • Concentrated poverty
  • Neighborhood effects
  • Segregation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Neighborhoods, employment, and welfare use: Assessing the influence of neighborhood socioeconomic composition'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this