Several decades of research demonstrate a link between neighborhood residence and human development throughout the life course. This chapter goes beyond enumerating studies that have found such connections between neighborhoods and development; we focus on synthesizing findings from methodologically rigorous research to lay a foundation of what we know about how and why neighborhoods matter for children during the first two decades of life. We begin the chapter with an overview of the history and context of neighborhood research, with special attention to the intersections of research and policy. We next turn our attention to defining the neighborhood context for children. By addressing issues of theory and measurement in neighborhood research, we provide a framework for the third section on approaches to studying neighborhood influences on children's development. The fourth section presents a review of the current state of research in the field, integrating multiple aspects of the neighborhood context and synergies with related contexts and individual characteristics. The fifth section then considers the neighborhood as a unit of intervention. Finally, we offer a dynamic framework for the study of neighborhoods and child development before presenting our conclusions.

Adolescents from low-income families face various opportunities and constraints as they develop, with possible ramifications for their well-being. Two contexts of particular importance are the home and the neighborhood. Using adolescent data from the first two waves of the Three City Study (N = 1,169), this study explored associations among housing problems and neighborhood disorder with adolescents’ socioemotional problems, and how these associations varied by parental monitoring and gender. Results of hierarchical linear models suggest that poor quality housing was most predictive of the functioning of girls and of adolescents with restrictive curfews, whereas neighborhood disorder was a stronger predictor for boys. Implications for future research on associations between housing and neighborhood contexts and adolescent development are discussed.

This study explored how neighborhood social processes and resources, relevant to immigrant families and immigrant neighborhoods, contribute to young children's behavioral functioning and achievement across diverse racial/ethnic groups. Data were drawn from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, a neighborhood-based, longitudinal study with cohorts of children first seen at birth, 3 years, and 6 years of age and followed over 6 years (N = 3,209; 37% Mexican American, 33% Black, 15% White, 9% Puerto Rican, 4% other Latino, and 2% other races/ethnicities; 44% immigrant). Results of multilevel models suggest that the immigrant status of children's families was a more consistent moderator of associations between neighborhood processes and children's development than the immigrant concentration of their neighborhoods, but the nature of these associations depended on the outcome and racial/ethnic group considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

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Many low-income Latina adolescent mothers face instability in their housing circumstances, which has implications for their long-term prospects and that of their children. This study used longitudinal, ethnographic data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three City Study to explore experiences of low-income, Latina adolescent mothers (N = 15) with unstable housing who primarily rely on their families or the families of their significant others for housing support. Results of analysis employing grounded theory and narrative approaches suggested two types of instability: “Horizontal moves” between family homes and “vertical moves” between family homes and independent living. Although family support often was fundamental in allowing for participants’ pursuit of independent housing (i.e., vertical moves), it also was associated with greater residential mobility (i.e., horizontal moves), most often in the context of intrafamilial conflict and family instability. These results are discussed with respect to inconsistencies in policies to address this vulnerable population.

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While economists and others have studied the impact of abandoned foreclosed homes on nearby home prices and crime, very few scholars have attempted to understand the impact of abandonment and rehabilitation on neighborhood social conditions. The foreclosure crisis of 2005-2010 led to a concentration of abandoned foreclosed homes in disadvantaged neighborhoods and these neighborhoods became the targets of a policy intervention, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. This study employs a mixed-method longitudinal approach to investigate the impact of this foreclosed home rehabilitation policy on neighborhood social conditions and physical conditions in a highly disadvantaged neighborhood. We compared this to a quasi-control group of similar abandoned, foreclosed neighborhood homes not selected for the program. Results indicated that the rehabilitation of a foreclosed home had marginally significant negative impact on social conditions and no impact on the physical conditions of nearby homes. There were no differences between the program properties and the control properties, except that the control properties were rehabilitated more quickly. To further explore the quantitative findings, we divide the qualitative results into four major themes emerging from the data: indifference to foreclosures, threats to the neighborhood, call for community cohesion, and the importance of homeownership. These results indicate that the affected residents believe that neighborhood stabilization efforts would have benefitted more from programs that aimed to improve homeownership opportunities and increase neighborhood levels of social cohesion and social capital.