Girls in the ’Hood: How Safety Affects the Life Chances of Low-Income Girls

Abstract

Adolescents growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods are at risk for a range of negative outcomes. Girls face specific threats because of their gender—omnipresent harassment, pressure for early sexual initiation, pervasive intimate partner violence, and high risk of sexual assault.This article uses mixed-methods data from the Three-City Study of Moving to Opportunity (MTO) to explore how moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods may have influenced adolescent girls’ life chances. MTO families moved to neighborhoods with lower levels of violent crime overall, but MTO girls also experienced a substantial reduction in the “female fear,” Gordon and Riger’s term for the fear of sexual harassment, coercion, and rape. The authors argue that this change is a plausible explanation for the notable improvements in MTO girls’ well-being.

Impact of the Built Environment on Mental and Sexual Health: Policy Implications and Recommendations

“…Female residents in high-poverty, socially isolated neighborhoods are at greater risk of sexual assault, particularly those living in public housing [48,50]. Girls learn to use complex, yet effective strategies to remain safe in such environments [48]. The findings from this study further support the need for more research on the specific neighborhood-level risks that may affect young girls more likely than boys.…”

“…As related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, traditional AIDS service organizations (ASOs), health clinics, and less-conventional intervention settings, such as, churches, beauty salons and barbershops, and, in some instances, prisons, can offer the most effective prevention and treatment services [58]. Similarly, the presence of safe havens (e.g., after-school programs and recreation centers) in communities can combat youth's idle time and support youth in resisting risky sexual behaviors [48,59,60].…”

“…"Female fear" is a term used to describe the fear of sexual victimization, verbal and physical assault, and sexual exploitation that girls and women experience [48,49]. Female residents in high-poverty, socially isolated neighborhoods are at greater risk of sexual assault, particularly those living in public housing [48,50].…”

“…Girls, in particular, face specific environmental threats because of their gender, including sexual harassment, pressure toward early sexual initiation, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault [48]. "Female fear" is a term used to describe the fear of sexual victimization, verbal and physical assault, and sexual exploitation that girls and women experience [48,49].…”

From “making toast” to “splitting apples”: dissecting “care” in the midst of chronic violence

“…Urban ethnography Decades of research have established the durable and pernicious impact that chronic exposure to violence has on poor communities (Brennan et al 2007;Schwab-Stone et al 1995). Clark et al (2008 have dubbed chronic exposure to violence a Bmental health hazard,^in reference to its harmful developmental, emotional, and behavioral impacts on individuals (see also, Farrell et al 2007;Friday 1995;Holton 1995;Popkin et al 2010). Exposure to community violence is strongly associated with post-traumatic Theor Soc…”