Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The objective of this study is to assess Black/White differences in neighborhood cohesion and how neighborhood disadvantage moderates this relationship. Specifically, I differentiate the effects of objectively measured neighborhood disadvantage and perceived neighborhood disadvantage on racial differences in neighborhood social cohesion. Using the Survey of Community, Crime and Health—a longitudinal survey of Illinois households between 1995 and 1998—I estimated tobit regressions of neighborhood social cohesion in 1998. I explored the independent effects of objective vs. perceived neighborhood disadvantage, controlling for other characteristics.
Black persons had lower social cohesion than White adults in bivariate and multivariate analyses, even when controlling for individual and neighborhood disadvantage. However, these differences disappeared after controlling for residents’ perceptions of neighborhood disadvantage. Perceived neighborhood disadvantage had a significant negative effect on neighborhood social cohesion. Married persons had higher social cohesion than non-married individuals. The results are discussed in light of scarring and acquired immunity hypotheses.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With almost 600,000 offenders released annually, prisoner reentry has become a large concern. Research has shown that upon release, most offenders return to socially and economically disadvantaged areas and often return to “core counties,” or the counties containing large metropolitan areas. This study shows that even when offenders do not return to large metropolitan areas, they still return to concentrated areas. The study also shows that most offenders return to the same block group they lived in prior to incarceration. These results emphasize the need to localize corrections.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study explores the relative impact of changing neighborhoods on children’s behavioral outcomes in both senses of the term: migration between neighborhoods and changes in a neighborhood's conditions. Rational behavior theory (Coleman, 1973; Becker, 1981; Sen, 1987), concentration theory (Wilson 1987), and social capital theory (Bourdieu 1983, Coleman, 1988, 1990; Portes, 1993) are used to motivate this study. Using data from “Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study (Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio),” this study analyzes mean differences between movers and non-movers, multivariate OLS regression models, and to address selection bias, first-differencing estimation is employed. A priori, the means analysis suggests that children from low-income families who migrate are more likely to have increased risk factors and elevated behavioral problems. Findings also indicate that increases in neighborhood problems are significantly related to increased behavioral problems, but that a family's migration to a new neighborhood is not associated with children's behavioral problems.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Sociologists have documented extensively the existence of segregated neighborhoods, but they have paid less attention to integrated ones. This paper uses survey data of over 200 residents in a gentrifying neighborhood in Portland, Oregon that is going through many changes, including an influx of white middle-class residents. The main goal is to measure residents' opinions about the neighborhood. We look at how residents currently evaluate the neighborhood, including the existence and severity of neighborhood problems, as well as how they view past neighborhood changes and predict future changes. We then analyze whether there are differences in opinion between old-timers (who have been living in the neighborhood since before gentrification), gentrifiers (who have moved into the neighborhood since gentrification began and have a higher socioeconomic status), and non-gentrifiers (who have moved into the neighborhood since gentrification began, but do not have a higher socioeconomic status). We also examine whether there are differences in opinion based on race.

We find that the biggest differences are between white old-timers and gentrifiers, on the one hand, and black old-timers and black and white non-gentrifiers, on the other. White old-timers and gentrifiers have a more positive outlook on neighborhood changes yet perceive more neighborhood problems, both in terms of crimes such as drug dealing and especially "quality of life" violations like trash in the streets and loud music. These findings suggest that although the neighborhood is demographically integrated there seems to be social cleavages based on race and class.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using a unique dataset of mothers of young children in Philadelphia, we test the systemic model of fear. Specifically, we test the degree to which structural characteristics and perceived social disorder influence mothers’ perceptions of neighborhood safety. We further test the applicability of this model under conditions of urban renewal and gentrification. Neighborhood change in terms of residential stability and heterogeneity may no longer signify social disorder in some instances, but instead may represent renewal for a neighborhood, both in terms of structural conditions and social networks and social control. We focus on the way that individual race interacts with neighborhood conditions to influence perceptions of neighborhood safety. We find that structural conditions do have independent effects on perceptions of safety, even after controlling for perceptions of social disorganization. However, there are interesting racial differences in the way that neighborhood heterogeneity and instability are viewed by white and minority women. Our findings show that, by and large, increased neighborhood instability has a consistently negative impact on white mothers’ perceptions of their neighborhood’s safety while it has the opposite effect on black and Hispanic mothers’ perceptions of safety. Similarly, increased neighborhood heterogeneity consistently negatively impacts whites' perceptions of neighborhood safety while it has no effect on minority women’s perceptions of safety.