A Multilevel Examination of Neighborhood Social Processes and College Enrollment

Previous sociological research on the neighborhood context of youth educational attainment has focused almost exclusively on the effects of neighborhood compositional features. There is limited empirical information about the social processes that may explainwhyneighborhood disadvantage affects coll...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social problems (Berkeley, Calif.) Calif.), 2013-11, Vol.60 (4), p.513-534
Main Authors: BERG, Mark T, STEWART, Eric A, STEWART, Endya, SIMONS, Ronald L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
African American culture
African American studies
Children
Cultural studies
Educational attainment
Neighborhood schools
Neighborhoods
Rural and urban sociology
School enrollment
Social problems and social policy. Social work
Sociology
Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education
Urban schools
Urban sociology
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Summary:Previous sociological research on the neighborhood context of youth educational attainment has focused almost exclusively on the effects of neighborhood compositional features. There is limited empirical information about the social processes that may explainwhyneighborhood disadvantage affects college enrollment decisions. Drawing on William Wilson’s (1987) framework and recent theorizing in urban sociology, we examine hypotheses about the explanatory role of neighborhood cultural heterogeneity in affecting college enrollment. We test three hypotheses derived from this literature using original data from a multilevel longitudinal sample of African American adolescents. Results revealed that cultural heterogeneity is an important neighborhood social process that affects adolescents’ decisions about college, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We discuss the implications of the findings with regard to future empirical and theoretical research on neighborhood effects and youth attainment.
ISSN:0037-7791
1533-8533
DOI:10.1525/sp.2013.60.4.513