Keeping People in Their Place? Young-Adult Mobility and Persistence of Residential Segregation in US Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

Prior research has shown that neighbourhood racial and income contexts remain similar across generations within White, Black and Latino families in the US. This article builds on this research by examining the extent to which geographical mobility during the transition to adulthood attenuates the perpetuation of residential segregation from Whites among Asians, Blacks and Latinos. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study linked to 1990 and 2000 US census data were analysed. Results suggest that residential exposure to Whites is similar during youth and adulthood among young adults who live in the same metropolitan area where they lived as adolescents, regardless of race/ethnicity. Among those who migrate to another metropolitan area, adolescent exposure predicts exposure among Asian, Black and Latino young adults, but not among Whites themselves. Thus, limited experience with integrated neighbourhoods during adolescence among non-Whites and limited geographical mobility among all young adults help to perpetuate segregation.

Neighborhood Attainment over the Adult Life Course

“…Similarity between childhood neighborhood characteristics and the characteristics of neighborhoods inhabited during young adulthood could be driven in part by simple geographic proximity, since young adults often establish their first household near their parents’ home (Sharkey 2008). Growing up in a neighborhood characterized by a particular racial composition could also shape youths’ preferences for the racial composition of their neighborhoods they inhabit later in life (Britton and Goldsmith 2013). …”

“…Second, growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood is likely to impair the development and accumulation of the human and financial capital that might facilitate geographic moves to more prosperous neighborhoods in later life (e.g., Corcoran et al 1992; Galster et al 2007; Wodtke, Harding, and Elwert 2011). And third, exposure to neighborhoods of a given racial composition during childhood might shape individuals’ preferences for the racial composition of the neighborhoods they inhabit in later life (Britton and Goldsmith 2013; Marsh et al 2011). But few studies have examined how adolescent neighborhood experiences are associated with neighborhood contexts in mid-to-late adulthood, and thus it is unknown how long the “effects” of adolescent neighborhood contexts on subsequent neighborhood contexts last.…”

“…However, prior studies in this area have been quite limited in the length of time that they are able to follow individuals through their “neighborhood life course.” Most studies examine only neighborhood conditions at the time of initial household formation (e.g., Britton and Goldsmith 2013) or within a few years of establishing an independent household (e.g., Goldsmith 2016; Swisher et al 2013; Wagmiller 2013). Consequently, we have little knowledge of how individuals’ exposure to various neighborhood conditions changes over the bulk of the adult life course.…”

“Down Woodward”: A Case Study of Empowering Youth to See and Disrupt Segregation Using Photovoice Methods

“…If left unchallenged, racial segregation is likely to persist. In a longitudinal study of housing mobility in major metropolitan areas, Britton and Goldsmith (2013) found that limited exposure to integrated neighborhoods during adolescence was a predictor of living in a segregated neighborhood later in life. More specifically, people of color who lived in segregated neighborhoods in their youth were more likely to live in segregated communities as adults.…”

Child Maltreatment, Problem Behaviors, and Neighborhood Attainment

“…A number of longitudinal studies have evaluated hypotheses related to neighborhood residence and the findings lead to a number of conclusions: (a) living in a neighborhood with high levels of poverty as a child is strongly associated with living in a neighborhood with high levels of poverty as an adult; (b) life course events such as graduating high school, getting married, the birth of a child, and buying a home are significantly related to changes in one's residential environment; and (c) a person's socioeconomic status, especially income, significantly affects the probability of living in an economically depressed area (Britton & Goldsmith, ; Coulter & Van Ham, ; Sampson & Sharkey, ; Sharkey, , ; South, Huang, Spring & Crowder, ; South et al., ; Swisher, Kuhl & Chavez, ; Wagmiller, ).…”