Neighborhood, neighborliness, and family and child well-being.

Abstract

Although neighborhood context is a well-recognized factor in the well-being of children and families, little systematic research exists to guide inquiries into the intersection of neighborhood social processes and child and family well-being. Moreover, despite the increased popularity of neighborhood effects research over the last several decades, crucial questions around the debate on how to align research findings with tangible experiences for children and families remain open. This article reviews selected studies that linked neighborhood factors to specific domains of child and family well-being: parenting, safety, health, and educational outcomes. By focusing on neighborliness, a particular form of neighboring, the study aims to shift the focus from macrolevel indicators of neighborhood context, to a more dynamic set of attributes that characterize neighborhood life, with the hope of inspiring others to build upon the findings and begin to translate the conclusions to meaningful policies and programs. Public Policy Relevance StatementNeighborhoods play a significant role in the well-being of children and families. Research has shown that neighborhood social processes have direct and indirect effects on how children are parented, on child and family health and safety, and on children's educational outcomes. Although research on neighborhood effects has increased in the recent past, there is still much to learn.

This is the place: a multi-level analysis of neighbourhood correlates of adolescent wellbeing

“…However, higher levels of perceived wellbeing support from local people were associated with lower internalising symptoms in all models, and this is unlikely to be an artefact of same source bias given the aggregation to the neighbourhood level [30]. This is aligned with previous studies noting the importance of neighbourhood social capital to adolescent wellbeing [13,25,26] This robust finding connects to work on neighbourhood social-interactive processes [46] that are theorised to impact wellbeing, and more specifically the concept of 'neighbourliness' [47], defined as when local residents, "engage in warm, caring, and mutually supportive rela-tionships… one can think of neighbourliness as the behavioural expression of neighbourhood social capital" (p.311). Place-based responses that emphasise and promote a sense of belonging to the local community, social cohesion, integration and inclusivity, and opportunities and structures for social support, may, therefore, yield benefits in terms of reduced internalising symptoms [48].…”

This is the place: a multi-level analysis of neighbourhood correlates of adolescent wellbeing

“…However, higher levels of perceived wellbeing support from local people predicted lower internalising symptoms in all models, and this is unlikely to be an artefact of same source bias given the aggregation to the neighbourhood level [25]. This robust finding connects to work on neighbourhood social-interactive processes [41] that are theorised to impact wellbeing, and more specifically the concept of 'neighbourliness' [42], defined as when local residents, "engage in warm, caring, and mutually supportive relationships… one can think of neighbourliness as the behavioural expression of neighbourhood social capital" (p.311). Place-based responses that emphasize and promote a sense of belonging to the local community, social cohesion, integration and inclusivity, and opportunities and structures for social support, may therefore yield benefits in terms of reduced internalising symptoms [43].…”