Finding Community in Family: Neighborhood Effects and African American Kin Networks

Neighborhood-effects theorists hypothesize that key compositional, social, institutional, and normative features of urban neighborhoods undermine family functioning. Drawing on qualitative interview data from low-income African American women who are part of extended-kin networks, the authors identify several “survival strategies” that promote family stability in the face of neighborhood challenges. Resource pooling, family sociability, service augmentation, normative accord, and kin monitoring were positive network responses to inner-city neighborhoods characterized by concentrated poverty, limited social and institutional supports, and exposure to unconventional value systems. More generally, the authors use these data to highlight family resiliency and the heterogeneity of family functioning within inner-city neighborhoods. These data can also be used to expand current formulations on the relationship between family processes and neighborhood contexts.