Risk and resilience in the urban neighborhood: Predictors of academic performance among low-income elementary school children

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Apr 1999 by Shumow, Lee, Vandell, Deborah Lowe, Posner, Jill

Associations between neighborhood risk and low-income children's (N = 168) academic performance were studied over 3 years from third to fifth grade. A neighborhood risk measure included 4 neighborhood demographic characteristics (income, educational level, female-headed households, and violent crimes). Neighborhood risk was not associated with children's academic performance in third grade, but negatively predicted fifth grade academic performance, after controlling for individual family demographic characteristics. For those fifth graders living in the highest risk neighborhoods, intra-individual, familial, and community factors were considered as possible sources of resilience. Children who evinced better impulse control and higher self-competence showed better academic performance, as did children whose families were more involved in their schooling. Results suggested that contact with neighbors fostered risk, not resilience.

School-age children become socialized in community mores (Heath, 1983), play (Berg & Medrich, 1980; Hart, 1979 ), make friends (DuBois & Hirsch, 1993; Van Vliet, 1981), and obtain support (Bryant, 1985) in neighborhood settings. Historically, neighborhoods functioned as a social center for children and families. Although some (Bartlett, 1991) have questioned whether contemporary neighborhoods continue to serve such a function, others, such as Wilson (1987), have argued that the neighborhood milieu remains critically important to the well-being of children, especially those who live in low-income neighborhoods. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate whether neighborhood characteristics constitute a risk for the academic performance of children at two points during elementary school. The second purpose was to identify psychosocial resources that are associated with academic performance within high-risk neighborhoods. A critical developmental and social policy issue is the determination of processes contributing to better development among low-income children in these neighborhoods.

Central to the study of neighborhoods is the notion that the aggregate of individuals and families within a neighborhood setting creates a context that influences child development (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Aber, 1997a; Coleman, 1987; Wilson, 1987). The resources, role models, and safety of a neighborhood combine to define that context. The resources available for children growing up in neighborhoods are indicated by the collective incomes and family compositions within the area-higher proportions of poverty and single-parent families translate to less human capital available to promote development. Adults within a neighborhood serve as role models for children and their educational attainment represents what a child can expect to attain in school (Wilson, 1987). The violent crime within a child's neighborhood serves as another community characteristic influencing development because crime restricts a child's activities and creates an atmosphere of fear (Garbarino, Dubrow, Kostelny, & Pardo, 1992). Much of the prior research of neighborhood influences on children's development has been focused on one or another of these demographic indicators (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994; Mayer & Jencks, 1989). The current study extends prior work by incorporating all of these neighborhood characteristics (income, percentage of single-parent families, median adult education, and the violent crime rate) into a composite measure, an approach consistent with cumulative risk analyses of families (Sameroff, Seifer, Baldwin, & Baldwin,1993).

Associations between neighborhood socioeconomic context and academic functioning typically have been studied during adolescence. For example, Dornbusch, Ritter, and Steinberg (1991) found that neighborhood socioeconomic level predicted secondary school grades, after controlling for family characteristics; students who resided in neighborhoods with fewer socioeconomic resources did more poorly in school than did those who resided in neighborhoods with more resources. Others have documented associations between indicators of poverty and both school dropout rates (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Kato, & Sealand, 1991; Crane, 1991) and problematic school adjustment (Connell et al., 1994). Analyses of neighborhood effects on young children are just beginning to appear. Chase-Lansdale and Gordon (1996) found neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics were associated with 5- and 6year-olds' intelligence test scores, but not with their reading readiness skills, when family factors were controlled. Duncan et al. (1994), however, did not find associations between neighborhood poverty and preschoolers' intelligence test scores. We extend prior research by examining the relation between neighborhood characteristics and academic functioning in elementary school children, an area that has been understudied (Gephart,1997; Mayer & Jencks,1989).

It is reasonable to expect stronger associations between neighborhood characteristics and children's school adjustment during elementary school than during preschool because studies of children's after-school activities (Hart, 1979; Medrich, Roizen, Rubin, & Buckley, 1982) and spatial boundaries (Matthews, 1987a; Whiting & Edwards, 1988) indicate that interactions in the neighborhood steadily increase during the schoolage years. There also is some evidence that the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and children's school achievement are apparent in older, but not younger elementary school children (Entwisle, Alexander, Olson, & Steffel,1994; Halpern-Felsher et al.,1997).