The Impact of Different Kinds of Neighborhood Involvement on Residents' Overall Evaluations of Their Neighborhoods

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relative impact of different kinds of social participation on an individual's sentiment toward his or her neighborhood. Three kinds of neighborhood participation are considered: (1) informal social participation; (2) involvement in formal neighborhood voluntary associations; and (3) use of neighborhood services. Survey data on nine moderate income neighborhoods with various racial mixes are employed in the analysis. The results of the regression analysis indicate that informal social participation and use of neighborhood services are positively associated with overall sentiment toward the neighborhood, whereas involvement in formal neighborhood voluntary associations has no relationship to the dependent variable. The implications of these findings for policy-making concerned with neighborhood maintenance and revitalization are discussed.     

Accessibility of sports facilities for persons with reduced mobility and assessment of their motivation for practice

This study aims to create awareness, both within the scientific community and among providers of sports facilities, for individuals with impaired or reduced mobility, promoting the development of technical solutions that allow greater autonomy and social integration of people with disabilities. The purpose of this work is, on the one hand, to evaluate the accessibility of sports facilities for people with reduced mobility and, on the other hand, to investigate why this user group has such low rates of participation in sporting activities. Firstly, using the Portuguese norms and legislation transcribed from European Community directives, a check list was created comprising all the items that sports facilities should abide by in order to provide accessibility and safety to people with reduced mobility. Another questionnaire was designed aimed at this user group, with questions pertaining to their desire and ability to use sports facilities. This questionnaire was distributed in Portugal, in the greater metropolitan area of Porto, to users of Rehabilitation Centres and Physiotherapy Clinics. The results obtained from the check-list showed the compliances and non-compliances of the respective sports facilities, proving that many barriers preventing the participation of people with reduced mobility still exist. Twenty-four people with permanent impairment of the lower extremities (paraplegia) answered the questionnaire pertaining to the desire and ability to perform physical activity. Two individuals (8%) had sporting activities available to them in their area of residence and only five (21%) performed any physical activity. The main reason given for not taking part in any activity was the lack of adapted sports facilities. All the participants felt that taking part in sports is beneficial. The benefits stated were: general well-being and development of the psychomotor component (e.g. coordination, balance, body posture), of physical condition (e.g. strength, resistance, flexibility) and social integration and quality of life. Besides wellbeing, they also mentioned social interaction, a way of occupying their time and an escape from the routine as the main motives for which they would like to take up physical exercise.     

Power mobility and the built environment: the experiences of older Canadians

In this article, we employ data from qualitative interviews with 15 men and 14 women aged 51–92 to examine older Canadian adults’ experiences of utilizing power wheelchairs and motorized scooters in the context of the built environment. When functioning properly and utilized within accessible spaces, power mobility devices provided many of the participants with the autonomy they desired. However, the features and functionality of power mobility equipment also constrained participants’ abilities to negotiate their surroundings and maintain valued social roles and physical activities. Participants’ experiences of power mobility technology as enabling or disabling were further complicated by the organization of the built environment, as the men and women described encountering various barriers to mobility within both public and private spaces. We discuss our findings in relation to the extant literature concerning the social and spatial construction of disability.     

Seven years later: effects of a neighborhood mobility program on poor Black and Latino adults' well-being

This study explored program effects on adults' well-being seven years following the implementation of a court-ordered neighborhood mobility program. Low-income black and Latino adults residing in poor, segregated neighborhoods in Yonkers, New York were randomly selected to relocate to publicly funded townhouses in middle-class neighborhoods within the city. Adults who moved (n = 141) and demographically similar adults who were not selected to move (n = 106) were interviewed. Data indicate that 85 percent of adults who moved to the new housing remained there at follow-up. Results revealed that adults who moved resided in neighborhoods with higher collective efficacy and less disorder and danger but had fewer neighborhood social ties than adults who stayed in poor neighborhoods. Movers were also more likely to work and less likely to receive welfare than nonmovers. Adults who remained in low-poverty neighborhoods at the time of the follow-up reported better physical health than adults residing in poor neighborhoods, but mental health did not vary by neighborhood.     

Intergenerational mobility and racial inequality: The case for a more holistic approach

Intergenerational social mobility studies have largely explored the relationship between one aspect of parent background (e.g., education, income, occupational status, wealth, or neighborhood context) and the corresponding aspect of that parent's child once they reach adulthood. Studies examining these various measures have provided differing conclusions about the extent that social origins constrain attainment in the U.S. In contrast, the persistence of racial inequality in intergenerational mobility is one consistent finding. For instance, across various measures, research demonstrates Black individuals are more likely than White individuals to experience downward mobility, and less likely to exceed the socioeconomic standings of their parents. In this article, we argue that a more holistic measure of both origin and destination, one that combines the above-mentioned indicators, is necessary to advance our understanding of the extent that origin constrains future attainment. We summarize lessons gleaned from one-dimensional estimates, and from other approaches that either combine some dimensions of socioeconomic background or attempt to capture a more holistic background in other ways. We then make a recommendation for methodological interventions to accomplish this more holistic approach and conclude with research and policy implications.     

How Theory and Research Inform Citizen Participation in Poor Communities: The Ecological Perspective and Theories on Self- and Collective Efficacy and Sense of Community

The engagement of residents in poor, disadvantaged communities has been a focus of social work practice since the early part of the twentieth century. In the person:environment configuration, a renewed appreciation is building for community-level factors in human behavior and functioning. Poor neighborhoods are transactional settings that can negatively impact human behavior and development. However, active citizen participation can positively impact neighborhoods, including strengthening residents' individual and collective capacities and relationships. This article uses the ecological perspective to examine the neighborhood as a transactional setting that influences individual and collective behavior and outcomes and citizen participation as vehicle for improving outcomes for residents living in poor communities. The article also discusses theory and research on self- and collective efficacy and sense of community to understand the motivation for and benefits of citizen participation. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.     

Social mobility and the well‐being of individuals

Several papers published in recent years have revived interest in Sorokin's dissociative thesis: the view that intergenerational social mobility has detrimental effects on the social relationships and wellbeing of individuals. In this paper, I test the dissociative thesis using data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society. On a wide range of indicators that measure participation in civic associations, contact with parents, close personal relationships, social support, subjective wellbeing, etc. individuals who have achieved long‐range upward mobility (i.e. those who move from working class origin to salariat destination) tend to fare better than those who are immobile in the working class. Those who have experienced long‐range downward mobility (moving from salariat origin to working class destination) do about as well as second‐generation members of the working class. Overall, there is no support for Sorokin's thesis.     

African American Family and Parenting Strategies in Impoverished Neighborhoods

This article considers how qualitative insights can inform quantitatively-derived neighborhood effects theories. Neighborhood effects theories argue that inner-city areas lack social and economic resources that promote the social mobility prospects of African American children. Consequently, children who grow up in impoverished neighborhoods are at risk for dropping out of school, bearing children prematurely, and engaging in delinquent activities. Qualitative studies, however, identify family and parenting strategies that buffer children from the risks associated with inner-city residence. When these practices are used, children are more likely to complete high school, forego premature childbearing, and participate in prosocial activities. Insights from qualitative studies expand on neighborhood effects theories by identifying variations in child social mobility prospects and the processes by which conventional outcomes are achieved. More specifically, qualitative studies focus attention on important factors that permit children to succeed, despite social and economic obstacles.     

Elite mobility and continuity during a regime change

How does a regime change influence elite mobility? By collecting data on elites after the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868, through which Japan transitioned from a feudal regime to a modern regime, we provide new evidence that the impact of the regime change on elite mobility varies across the stages of the regime change. We analyze the impact of the regime change from two aspects: (1) the composition of elites or elite membership and (2) the internal hierarchy within them. The regime change opened an opportunity for commoners to join the elite group. After the Meiji Restoration, the share of elites whose fathers were commoners in the former regime increased, as did the influence of meritocracy on elite ranks. However, once the new regime was established, the elite hierarchy started to reflect the social stratum of the former regime and the influence of meritocracy declined.     

The political use of the internet: Some insights from two surveys of Italian students

Interest in the Internet's impact on political participation has grown over the last five years. The main claim of most social scientists is to consider the Internet as a new resource for political engagement. However, this claim has not always been backed up by empirical analysis. The aim of this article is to provide empirical evidence on a subject that previous surveys on the Internet have generally ignored: the influence of individual political characteristics on Internet use. The authors compare data from two distinct surveys, carried out in two different periods but which contain some common batteries of questions referring to political participation and Internet use for political purposes. One survey was carried out in 2001 and focused on students at the University of Florence. The second was carried out in 2002 and focused on the participants in the European Social Forum in Florence. The empirical results and interpretations offered are based on a sample of 397 students, extracted from the two databases. The focus of the research is on exploring whether and how the political use of the Internet is shaped by the political characteristics of users, in this case students. The findings of the two studies suggest that, firstly, the more students are engaged in different social and political organizations, the more they use the Internet to achieve political purposes; and, secondly, that different styles of Internet use (to retrieve alternative information, to discuss and to perform political actions) are associated with the political characteristics of users. In particular, the characteristics of offline participation are reproduced online: the Internet is appropriated and shaped by political practices of users.     

Social mobility and social capital in contemporary Britain

This paper seeks to contribute to social capital research by linking measures of formal and informal forms of social capital to social mobility trajectories and assessing their impact on social trust. Drawing on data from a recent national survey – Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion (2003/2004 ) – we analyse formal civic engagement and informal social connections. The latter data are obtained using, for the first time in a study in Britain, Lin's (2001 ) 'Position Generator' approach as a means to identify the volume, range and position of individuals' informal social contacts. The pattern of contacts suggests that access to social ties is strongly conditioned by mobility trajectory. We also show that civic engagement in formal associations is especially high among second-generation members of the service class. It is also shown that both class trajectory and possession of two types of social capital have significant impacts on trust. Among the social groups disadvantaged in terms of bridging social ties are not only those in lower classes but also women and members of minority ethnic groups.     

Kontexteffekte von Wohngebieten

The article reviews findings on neighbourhood effects. First, methodological problems, such as the choice of spatial units, selection bias and social mechanisms are discussed. To overcome the problem of varying lists of neighbourhood effects, I suggest a methodological distinction between characteristics of the neighbourhood and social mechanisms. In the following section, these typologies are applied to analyse findings from empirical studies on topics such as the impact of the physical environment, perceived social capital and income. The complex relationship between neighbourhood characteristics and individual outcomes is then examined using studies on the impact on physical and mental health.Several research problems, such as the impact of different contexts on individuals of the same status are outlined in the following section. In the final chapter major findings are resumed and suggestions for further research are made.     

Paradoxes of social mobility in London

We analyse social mobility in London and seek to address two paradoxes. Among people living in London, relative mobility, or social fluidity, appears to be remarkably low when compared with other regions of Great Britain. But social fluidity among people who were brought up in London is similar to that of people brought up elsewhere in Britain. This is our first paradox. Furthermore, it is widely held that social fluidity is higher among people with higher levels of education, yet, the proportion of people with a University degree is much higher among people living in London than in any other region: how is this compatible with its relatively low social fluidity? This is our second paradox. We address these puzzles and find that they are largely explained by patterns of migration into and out of London by two groups that have received little attention hitherto in studies of mobility in the capital: International migrants and people who were brought up in London but who no longer live there.     

THE LONG-TERM EFFECT OF CHILDHOOD RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

Moving during childhood has typically been found to have negative effects on educational attainment. The loss of important social relationships is likely the cause. Many studies that examine the effect of residential mobility on education take a relatively short-term view by only looking at the effect for those no older than their late teens or early 20s. However, because many family moves are beneficial to children, in terms of improving their neighborhood or home environment, it is possible that the positive effects of family mobility do not appear until much later. I examine the effect of childhood residential mobility on educational attainment using the 1986 Canadian General Social Survey for individuals aged 25 and over. Results suggest that over the long run, residential mobility in childhood is beneficial for later educational attainment in that those who move between birth and age 15 are more likely to eventually graduate from high school than those who remain in the same community.     

Social mobility and demand for redistribution in Europe: a comparative analysis

The literature on preferences for redistribution has paid little attention to the effect of social mobility on the demand for redistribution and no systematic test of the hypotheses connecting social mobility and preferences for redistribution has yet been done to date. We use the diagonal reference model to estimate the effect of origin and destination classes on preferences for redistribution in a large sample of European countries using data from the European Social Survey. Our findings are consistent with the logic of acculturation in the sense that newcomers tend to adapt their views to those of the destination class at early stages and that upward and downward mobility do not have distinctive effects on the formation of political preferences. However, even though social origins seem to have a limited impact on preferences for redistribution, the evidence does not support the hypothesis that mobile and non‐mobile individuals are alike. We also find that the effect of social origin on preferences varies largely across countries. The empirical evidence leads to the conclusion that the effect of social origin on preferences for redistribution increases in contexts of strong familism.     

Stressful neighborhoods and depression: a prospective study of the impact of neighborhood disorder

Quantitative and qualitative research suggests that urban disadvantaged environments may be highly stressful to their inhabitants. Social disorganization may be deleterious to both physical and mental health. The relationships among perceptions of one's neighborhood, measures of social support and social integration, and level of subsequent depressive symptoms was examined with a community sample of 818 individuals screened for an HIV prevention intervention, most of whom were current or former drug users. After adjusting for baseline levels of depressive symptoms, perceptions of neighborhood characteristics (vandalism, litter or trash, vacant housing, teenagers hanging out, burglary, drug selling, and robbery) predicted depressive symptoms at a 9-month follow-up interview. Measures of social support and social integration, entered as interactions with neighborhood perceptions, did not buffer the effect of neighborhood perceptions. However, CES-D scores at follow-up for frequent church attendees were lower. The data support theories of social disorganization and social stress and suggest the need for structural intervention.     

Political attitudes, social participation and social mobility: a longitudinal analysis

It is often suggested that the political attitudes and social participation which have underpinned the welfare-state democracies have depended on large amounts of upward social mobility. The demographic heterogeneity of the service class, according to this view, induced in them a willingness to lead a common political project seeking to establish a common social citizenship. As the amount of upward mobility stagnates or even begins to fall, it has then further been claimed that there might emerge a degree of ideological closure in the service class that might erode their commitment to civic values. The 1958 British birth cohort study is used to investigate this question. Longitudinal data are invaluable here because they allow us to distinguish between two hypotheses: that upward mobility as such has induced in the service class certain attitudes and propensities to participate, or that the more important influence is the early socialization through which upwardly mobile people went. The conclusion of the analysis is that, although the civic values of the service class have not depended on upward mobility, this is much more true of cognitively able people than of others, and so is dependent on the somewhat meritocratic basis of selection into the salariat.     

Environmental changes to increase physical activity: perceptions of older urban ethnic-minority women

Despite the numerous benefits of physical activity, older adults continue to be more sedentary than their younger counterparts, and sedentary behavior is more prevalent among older racial and ethnic minorities than among Whites. This study used the nominal group technique (NGT) to examine participants' perceptions of what neighborhood environmental changes would encourage greater physical activity for older African American and Hispanic women. Participants age 50-75 years were recruited from 2 urban community health clinics. Nine NGT sessions (45 participants) were conducted. The women were asked what changes in their neighborhood environment would encourage them to become more physically active. Responses to the research question were tabulated, and qualitative analysis was used to identify themes and categories. Major categories were physical environment changes, safety, and activities/social support. Although the physical environment received the greatest number of points, concerns for personal safety cut across categories. Participants indicated the need for more facilities in which to be active.     

Neighborhood mechanisms and the spatial dynamics of birth weight

This study addresses two questions about why neighborhood contexts matter for individuals via a multilevel, spatial analysis of birthweight for 101,662 live births within 342 Chicago neighborhoods. First, what are the mechanisms through which neighborhood structural composition is related to health? The results show that mechanisms related to stress and adaptation (violent crime, reciprocal exchange and participation in local voluntary associations) are the most robust neighborhood-level predictors of birth weight. Second, are contextual influences on health limited to the immediate neighborhood or do they extend to a wider geographic context? The results show that contextual effects on birth weight extend to the social environment beyond the immediate neighborhood, even after adjusting for potentially confounding covariates. These findings suggest that the theoretical understanding and empirical estimation of 'neighborhood effects' on health are bolstered by collecting data on more causally proximate social processes and by taking into account spatial interdependencies among neighborhoods.