Will Moving to a Better Neighborhood Help? Teenage Residential Mobility, Change of Context, and Young-Adult Educational Attainment Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Research suggests that growing up in more affluent neighborhoods improves educational attainment. But would it help adolescents to move to relatively more affluent neighborhoods, as theories of neighborhood effects anticipate? Does it depend on the magnitude of the change of context? To answer these questions, we use data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey and the 1990 Census to estimate models using propensity score methods. We found that both upward mobility and change of context during adolescence had small effects on long-term educational attainment that varied by race, socioeconomic status, transfer status, and the social class of starting neighborhoods. Importantly, upward moves and positive changes in context reduced African-Americans chances of completing high school.

published proceedings

  • URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW

altmetric score

  • 7.58

author list (cited authors)

  • Goldsmith, P. R., Britton, M. L., Reese, B., & Velez, W.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Goldsmith, Pat Rubio||Britton, Marcus L||Reese, Bruce||Velez, William

publication date

  • March 2017