Maria Loreto Martinez - Neighborhood Context and the Development of African American Children

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CHILDREN OF POVERTY

Studies on the Effects of Single Parenthood, the Feminization of Poverty, and Homelessness

edited by
Stuart Bruchey
Allan Nevins Professor Emeritus
Columbia University

Neighborhood Context and the Development of African American Children

M. Loreto Martinez

First Published in 2000 by Garland Publishing, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 2000 by M. Loreto Martinez

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is
available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 13: 978-0-8153-3538-2 (hbk)

To my family

Contents

Support for this research was provided by the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health Grant # MCJ-240621, and the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect Grants # 90CA1401 and 90CA1621.

Neighborhood Context and the Development of African American Children

The evidence of worsening life conditions, concentration of poverty (Jargowsky & Bane, 1991; Pandey & Coulton, 1994; Wilson, 1991) and high degree of African American segregation in urban areas (Gephart, 1989; Jencks & Mayer, 1990; Massey & Denton, 1989; Wacquant & Wilson, 1993) has led to a growing interest in how neighborhood contexts effect child development and parenting behavior (Coulton, Korbin, & Su, 1996; Coulton, Korbin, Su, & Chow, 1995). Further, changes observed during the last three decades in the socioeconomic composition and patterns of racial segregation of the neighborhoods in which low-income children and their families reside have added a sense of urgency to understanding the nature of neighborhood effects (Anderson, 1991; Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Sealand, 1993; Jencks & Mayer, 1990; Jencks & Peterson, 1991; McLanahan & Garfinkel, 1993).

Central to the current study is the question of how contexts often labeled as disadvantageoussuch as inner-city neighborhoods in which many African American families resideinfluence the development of preschool children. From a theoretical perspective, both the ecological (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and transactional (Sameroff & Seifer, 1995) approaches to the study of human development have acknowledged the importance of community factors in shaping child development. Neighborhoods are part of the environments in which children live, specifically, part of the exosystem that affects childrens current and future development, and are sources of both stressors and resources (Horowitz, 1989; Sandler, 1985).

Implicit in the ecological conceptualization of human development is the assumption that neighborhood characteristics engender a social context which influences the individual perceptions and attitudes that ultimately guide the behavior of parents. Specifically, that neighborhood characteristics operate indirectly through the more proximal determinants of child development, such as parental perceptions of resources available, family social interaction, and parental competence. However, from an empirical point of view questions about how neighborhood context influences development remain unanswered.

To date it is unclear how neighborhood characteristics influence development. Direct effects of neighborhood quality could involve an actual deprivation of opportunities and resources that make certain experiences possible for children. For example, inner-city neighborhoods may offer an impoverished array of experiences and opportunities for children and families residing in them. Findings from a study by Gaster (1993) suggest that increasing crime, traffic, and deterioration of parks and playgrounds have cut off children and youths from safely using their neighborhood resources.

Or, neighborhood characteristics may influence child development by affecting the extra-familial environment (i.e., threat of crime, lack of support). For example the extra-familial environment for families living in poor, inner-city neighborhoods is by no means benign and supportive. Garbarino and Sherman (1980) contend that some neighborhoods work for parents and children while others work against them. Areas are considered low-risk if they help support families and overcome a familys internal weaknesses, and high-risk if they compound internal family problems. Consequently, high-risk neighborhoods are not good places to bring up children because a familys own problems may be compounded rather than ameliorated by the neighborhood context.

Alternatively, actual neighborhood characteristics could influence development through characteristics of the neighborhoods, at the level of its social networks and organizations. The current study contributes to our understanding of these issues by empirically exploring pathways by which neighborhood context may be related to child development

Among several processes that can be assumed to intervene when studying neighborhood influences on development, the current study will examine the role of parenting. A contextual perspective assumes that parents and children are not passive recipients of neighborhood influences but actively interact with their neighborhood environment. Studies that have examined the determinants of success among children growing up in poverty confirm that some parents are able to marshal their efforts and some not (Furstenberg, 1993; Jarrett, 1995). Consequently, we can not assume that a given neighborhood will have the same effects on every child, regardless of his/her family background. Therefore, elaborating on the need to examine how children and parents organize, adapt to, and shape their immediate environments (Bronfenbrenner, 1986), the current study will explore the role of parenting style as a mediator of neighborhood influences on development.

The following questions will be addressed: Are neighborhood characteristics associated with the developmental outcome of African American preschool children? If so, which neighborhood characteristicsobjective or perceivedcontribute the most to the variance in child development at age five? Do perceived neighborhood characteristics make a unique contribution to childrens development beyond that of structural characteristics of neighborhood? Are these effects independent, or is there a mediational effect at age five? Are perceived neighborhood characteristics associated with childrens development because they affect the abilities of parents to parent? If so, are perceived neighborhood characteristics associated with parenting style? Are the effects of perceived neighborhood mediated by parenting style?

In addition to the ecological perspective, two other theoretical developments inform the current study:

1. Environmentalists and community psychologists have identified physical and social dimensions of neighborhoods that are important determinants of individual behavior. Particular emphasis is given to reviewing findings regarding the social component of neighborhood life (e.g., formal and informal social exchanges, emotional, instrumental, and informational support because it appears to play a central role in terms of providing resources for coping with stressors both at the individual and neighborhood level, and has been linked to positive child rearing (Cochran, 1988; Cochran & Brassard, 1979). This literature is reviewed as a framework for the development of a measure of parental perceptions of neighborhood, the Perceived Neighborhood Scale (PNS).

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