Seven Years Later: Effects of a Neighborhood Mobility Program on Poor Black and Latino Adults' Well-being

• Published in: Journal of health and social behavior 2008-06, Vol.49 (2), p.119-130
• Main Authors: Fauth, Rebecca C., Leventhal, Tama, Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; African Americans; Attrition (Research Studies); Biological and medical sciences; Cities; Community Programs; Comparative Analysis; Disorders; Economically Disadvantaged; Employment; Family, School and Neighborhood Contexts of Health; Female; Health Behavior; Health outcomes; Hispanic Americans; Hispanics; Housing; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Latin American Cultural Groups; Latin American people; Low Income; Low Income Groups; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Middle Class; Middle class people; Mobility; Neighborhoods; Neighbourhoods; New York; New York City; Organization of mental health. Health systems; Personal Satisfaction; Physical Health; Population Dynamics; Poverty; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Housing; Relocation; Residence Characteristics; Social behavior; Social Control; Social Environment; Social networks; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Studies; Unemployment; Urban Areas; Violence; Welfare Services; Well Being; Wellbeing
• ISSN: 0022-1465; 2150-6000
• DOI: 10.1177/002214650804900201

This study explored program effects on adults' well-being seven years following the implementation of a court-ordered neighborhood mobility program. Low-income black and Latino adults residing in poor, segregated neighborhoods in Yonkers, New York were randomly selected to relocate to publicly funded town-houses in middle-class neighborhoods within the city. Adults who moved (n = 141) and demographically similar adults who were not selected to move (n = 106) were interviewed. Data indicate that 85 percent of adults who moved to the new housing remained there at follow-up. Results revealed that adults who moved resided in neighborhoods with higher collective efficacy and less disorder and danger, but had fewer neighborhood social ties than adults who stayed in poor neighborhoods. Movers were also more likely to work and less likely to receive welfare than nonmovers. Adults who remained in low-poverty neighborhoods at the time of the follow-up reported better physical health than adults residing in poor neighborhoods, but mental health did not vary by neighborhood.