Facilitators and Barriers to Neighborhood Social Integration

Social isolation has reached concerning rates, particularly in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Social integration is critical to combatting social isolation and loneliness and for promoting feelings of belonging, however, most of this work centers fostering close personal relationships within family and friend networks. Social integration within the neighborhood context (e.g., chatting with neighbors, participating in local organizations) is another tool that can be used combat loneliness, but less is known about the process of social integration across various social identities. The current study examines variability in the patterns and mechanisms of neighborhood social integration across sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., developmental stage-social role, ethnic-racial identity, and housing tenure). Thematic analyses were conducted on semi-structured interviews with 29 residents of Wards 4 and 5 of Washington, D.C. Results suggested that relative to caregivers and community leaders, youth were far less socially integrated with their neighborhoods due to gentrification-induced transience and school choice programming. Despite sociodemographic differences in the perceived facilitators and barriers to neighborhood social integration, many residents called for more community programming and shared spaces to facilitate neighborhood connections.