Mothers And Mastery: The Consequences Of Perceived Neighborhood Disorder

Abstract

Using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of mothers, we specify the conditions under which the neighborhood context shapes the experience of mastery. In so doing, we extend the work of others who have shown that neighborhood perceptions influence one's sense of personal control over and above the effects of sociodemographic and objective neighborhood characteristics. Specifically, we demonstrate that the benefits to mastery generally afforded to mothers through marital status, household income, physical health, and living in a higher-income neighborhood are diluted by perceptions of neighborhood disorder. These findings suggest the importance of including measures of proximal experiences when attempting to link objective components of social structure with individual and family-level outcomes. Providing further support for the emphasis placed on these proximate mechanisms by the social structure and personality framework, our analyses indicate that failing to consider negative community perceptions suppresses the significant impact that central city residence and race have on mothers' sense of personal control. 340

Neighborhood Stressors, Mastery, and Depressive Symptoms: Racial and Ethnic Differences in an Ecological Model of the Stress Process in Chicago

“…Mastery does have a clear, inverse relationship with neighborhood stressors. 26,27 Furthermore, mastery mediates the effects of individual-level stressors on depression outcomes. 24,25,28,29 While this evidence suggests that mastery is a mediator, there is less evidence of mastery as a moderator.…”

African-American Mothers' Community Social Capital and Parenting Quality: Does Personal Outlook Make a Difference?

“…However, Ross (2000) and Ross, Reynolds, and Geis (2000) provide empirical evidence that community residents' perceptions of their community social conditions predict psychological well-being. Along with Ross and colleagues (2000), other researchers have also argued that community residents' personal outlook regarding their social environments influence their psychological well-being (Christie-Mizell and Erikson 2007;Cutrona, Russell, Hessling, Brown, and Murry 2000;Ross 2000;Ross et al 2000;Wilson 1996).…”

Reconceptualizing agency within the life course: The power of looking ahead

“…Our concern in this paper is to demonstrate the longitudinal success of incorporating future orientation -in this concrete case, expectations about how life will turn out--into our empirical understanding of individual agency, effectively supporting the sociological importance of conceptualizing the agent rather than simply focusing on structures and resources (see also Christie-Mizell and Erickson 2007;Reynolds et al 2007). We view agency as an individual capacity for meaningful and sustained action both within situations and across the life course, and offer a model that includes more room for self-appraisal and potentially exerting changes on one's environment than often gets captured in notable sociological treatments, especially the tradition of those influenced by Bourdieu's work.…”