Interesting new research –
Inequality in
Children’s Contexts: Income Segregation of Households with and without Children
by Ann Owens
Abstract
Past research shows
that income segregation between neighborhoods increased over the past several
decades. In this article, I reexamine income segregation from 1990 to 2010 in
the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and I find that income segregation
increased only among families with children. Among childless
households—two-thirds of the population—income segregation changed little and
is half as large as among households with children. I examine two factors that
may account for these differences by household composition. First, I find that
increasing income inequality, identified by past research as a driver of income
segregation, was a much more powerful predictor of income segregation among
families with children, among whom income inequality has risen more. Second, I
find that local school options, delineated by school district boundaries,
contribute to higher segregation among households with children compared to
households without. Rising income inequality provided high-income households
more resources, and parents used these resources to purchase housing in
particular neighborhoods, with residential decisions structured, in part, by school
district boundaries. Overall, results indicate that children face greater and
increasing stratification in neighborhood contexts than do all residents, and
this has implications for growing inequalities in their future outcomes.
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