The effect of environs on individual people, as effected at the neighborhood level
The neighborhood effect is an economic and social science concept that posits that neighbourhoods have either a direct or an indirect effect on individual behaviors. Although the effect of the neighbourhood was already known and studied at the beginning of the 20th century[1] and as early as the mid-19th century,[2] it has become a popular approach after the publication of the book The Truly Disadvantaged by William Julius Wilson in 1987. Wilson's theory suggests that living in a neighbourhood seriously affected by poverty affects a wide range of individual outcomes, such as economic self-sufficiency, violence, drug use, low birthweight, and cognitive ability. Many scholars and activists consider Wilson's book The Truly Disadvantaged the "bible" of scholarship on the neighborhood effect. The Truly Disadvantaged has been a stepping stone for a great deal of research on the neighbourhood effect, particularly on education, exploring the impacts of neighborhoods on an individual's outcome and performance in life.[3] Since Wilson there has been a substantial literature written on neighborhood effects,[4] and many challenges remain.[5]
In more recent years, neighborhood effects have been also studied in labour market studies, political science, epidemiology, gerontology, psychology, public health, and urban design. For example, Murray and colleagues have shown that older workers living in areas with higher unemployment are less likely to be in work ten years later[6] and retire at earlier ages.[7] A small number of studies using data from across the life course have found that neighbourhood effects on economic outcomes, such as earning, tend to accumulate over time.[8] Similar evidence has been identified for health and well-being outcomes.[9] However, it is currently unknown whether this is due to an accumulation of exposure over the life course or due to unequal selection of individuals into advantaged and disadvantaged neighborhoods over time.[10]
Some research has shown that the living conditions of the neighbourhood interact with an individual's negative life events. The same event is more likely to trigger depression in disadvantaged neighbourhoods than in neighbourhoods with a good quality of life.[11] This hypothesis is supported by Catherine Ross[12] who shows that socially disordered neighborhoods are associated with depressive symptoms. Gonzalez and colleagues[13] argue that restricted social environments, such as family, interact with a wider definition of the environment, namely the neighbourhood and the community, fostering the perception about future living conditions. Gan[14] developed a transdisciplinary neighborhood health framework based on an integrative review of articles about neighborhood effects on health of older adults.
^Robert E. Park; Ernest W. Burgess; Rоderick D. McKenzie (1925). The City. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
^Mayhew Henry (1851). London Labor and the London Poor: A Cyclopaedia of the Condition and Earnings of Those that Will Work, Those that Cannot Work, and Those that Will Not Work. Harper.
^Ross, Catherine E. (2000). "Neighborhood Disadvantage and Adult Depression". Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 41 (2): 177–187. doi:10.2307/2676304. JSTOR2676304.
^Gonzalez, Michelle; Jones, Deborah J.; Kincaid, Carlye Y.; Cuellar, Jessica (2012). "Neighborhood context and adjustment in African American youths from single mother homes: The intervening role of hopelessness". Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. 18 (2): 109–117. CiteSeerX10.1.1.411.3050. doi:10.1037/a0026846. PMID22506815.
^Gan, Daniel R. Y. (2017). "Neighborhood effects for aging in place: a transdisciplinary framework toward health-promoting settings". Housing and Society. 44 (1–2): 73–113. doi:10.1080/08882746.2017.1393283. S2CID149351251.