Work

Neighborhood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-Income Adults

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Nearly 9 million Americans live in extreme-poverty neighborhoods, places that also tend to be racially segregated and dangerous. Yet, the effects on the well-being of residents of moving out of such communities into less distressed areas remain uncertain. Using data from Moving to Opportunity, a unique randomized housing mobility experiment, we found that moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood leads to long-term (10- to 15-year) improvements in adult physical and mental health and subjective well-being, despite not affecting economic self-sufficiency. A 1-standard deviation decline in neighborhood poverty (13 percentage points) increases subjective well-being by an amount equal to the gap in subjective well-being between people whose annual incomes differ by $13,000--a large amount given that the average control group income is $20,000. Subjective well-being is more strongly affected by changes in neighborhood economic disadvantage than racial segregation, which is important because racial segregation has been declining since 1970, but income segregation has been increasing.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1224648

Authors: Jens Ludwig, Greg J. Duncan, Lisa A. Gennetian, Lawrence F. Katz, Ronald C. Kessler, Jeffrey R. Kling, Lisa Sanbonmatsu

Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, University of Chicago, University of California, Irvine, Brookings Institution, Harvard University, Congressional Budget Office

Language: English

Topic: Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities, No poverty, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: green

Funders: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: Children & Neighborhoods: Randomized Study of Mobility (CONTINUATION-REVISED), Neighborhood Poverty & Mental Health of Low-income Mothers: An Experimental Study, Experimental Estimation of Neighborhood Effects on Health and Well-Being, Neighborhood Poverty, Health and Economic Security Over the Adult Lifespan, G4633629788, Effects of High-Poverty Neighborhoods on Youth (CONTINUATION-Revised), LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF THE MOVING-TO-OPPORTUNITY EXPERIMENT ON YOUTH VIOLENCE, Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research, Understanding and Improving Healthcare Decision-Making and Outcomes for People Living with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias, NBER Center for Aging and Health Research, Social and Economic Analysis of Demographic Change

OpenAlex ID: W2120406225

FWCI: 153.8

Cites: 93

Cited by: 742

Related to: 10