Diverging trajectories of neighborhood disadvantage by race and birth cohort from childhood through young adulthood

Abstract

Prior research has established the greater exposure of African Americans from all income groups to disadvantaged environments compared to whites, but the traditional focus in studies of neighborhood stratification obscures heterogeneity within racial/ethnic groups in residential attainment over time. Also obscured are the moderating influences of broader social changes on the life-course and the experiences of Latinos, a large and growing presence in American cities. We address these issues by examining group-based trajectory models of residential neighborhood disadvantage among white, Black, and Latino individuals in a multi-cohort longitudinal research design of over 1,000 children from Chicago as they transitioned to adulthood over the last quarter century. We find considerable temporal consistency among white individuals compared to dynamic heterogeneity among nonwhite individuals in exposure to residential disadvantage, especially Black individuals and those born in the 1980s compared to the 1990s. Racial and cohort differences are not accounted for by early-life characteristics that predict long-term attainment. Inequalities by race in trajectories of neighborhood disadvantage are thus at once more stable and more dynamic than previous research suggests, and they are modified by broader social changes. These findings offer insights on the changing pathways by which neighborhood racial inequality is produced.

The social foundations of racial inequalities in arrest over the life course and in changing times

“…1 For example, because of durable inequality, disadvantaged families are often "stuck in place" (Sharkey, 2013) and lack the resources to move out of poor or high-crime neighborhoods. Considerable evidence points to the existence of stubborn path dependencies, especially neighborhood contextual disadvantages that are highly stable from childhood through adulthood (Candipan & Sampson, 2023;Timberlake, 2007). Childhood exposure to early neighborhood advantage is also linked to subsequent employment, educational, and income attainment (Chetty & Hendren, 2018) that feature in many theories of socioeconomic status and criminal behavior.…”

“…This argument is motivated by evidence showing the durable nature of multidimensional inequality by race. Neighborhood poverty is transmitted over generations and place (Sharkey, 2013), for example, and life-course research has shown the durable nature of both White privilege (Candipan & Sampson, 2023) and persistent Black disadvantage (Timberlake, 2007) in neighborhood environments. Upward intergenerational mobility at the individual and family level is also much lower for minority groups, especially for Blacks, than for Whites (Chetty et al, 2020).…”