How Much Do Neighborhoods Matter for Children and Youth?
Saturday, 8:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Sheraton Constitution A&B

Speaker: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Columbia University
Chair: Glen Elder, University of North Carolina

Biographical Sketch
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development and Education at Teachers College, and the College for Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. She received her B.A. from Connecticut College, her Ed.M. from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brooks-Gunn co-directs the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University’s Teachers College and the Columbia University Institute for Child and Family Policy. She is Associate Editor of the Society for Research in Child Development's Social Policy Report, and serves on that Society's Governing Council. Dr. Brooks-Gunn’s specialty is policy-oriented research focusing on family and community influences upon the development of children and youth. Her research centers around designing and evaluating interventions aimed at enhancing the well-being of children living in poverty and associated conditions. She also conducts research on transitional periods focusing on school, family and biological transitions in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. She is interested in the factors that contribute to positive and negative outcomes and changes in well-being over these years. She is author of over 400 published articles and 17 books, including Early Child Development in the 21st Century: Profiles of Current Research Initiatives (2003); Conflict and Cohesion in Families: Causes and Consequences (1999); Consequences of Growing Up Poor, (1997); and Transitions through Adolescence: Interpersonal Domains and Context (1996).

Abstract
The neighborhoods in which children live are thought to have an influence on many aspects of their lives, including achievement, mental health, obesity and delinquency. The relative role of neighborhood residence (compared to family factors) is still debated by social scientists. In addition, the mechanisms through which neighborhood residence might operate and the ways in which family and neighborhood processes interact are not well understood. The issues are discussed in this presentation, based on the last decade of neighborhood research. Experimental evidence is considered (Moving to Opportunity and other neighborhood re-location efforts) as well as longitudinal studies using a neighborhood-based sampling strategy (LA FANS and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods). Neighborhood processes (specifically collective efficacy, institutional resources, and social ties) are highlighted, as they provide purchase on how neighborhoods influence different aspects of child and adolescent development.