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Neighborhood Effects on Children’s Subjective Deprivation: Are Poor Children’s Perceptions of the Economic Situation in their Home Influenced by their Neighborhood?

Author

Listed:
  • Bernadette Huyer-May

    (LMU Munich)

  • Claudia Schmiedeberg

    (LMU Munich)

  • Nina Schumann

    (LMU Munich)

Abstract

Do social comparison effects exacerbate children’s subjective experiences of poverty? Research on relative income effects indicates that reference groups are relevant to an individual’s well-being. While these effects are rather well understood for adults, it is unclear whether children are affected in a similar way. In our analysis, we investigate if children in low-income families perceive the economic situation in their home differently if they live in a wealthy (as compared to a disadvantaged) neighborhood. Drawing on parent and child data from the German Family Panel pairfam (3600 observations from 1691 dyads) enriched with district-level neighborhood data, we analyze the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status and children’s perceptions of the financial situation in their home. Controlling for a number of indicators for the economic situation in the family such as household income, social welfare benefits, and parents’ perception of family finances, we find that children from low-income families feel less deprived if they are living in neighborhoods with a higher socioeconomic status. In contrast, for children from families with an equivalence income above the median regional equivalence income no neighborhood effects are found.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernadette Huyer-May & Claudia Schmiedeberg & Nina Schumann, 2018. "Neighborhood Effects on Children’s Subjective Deprivation: Are Poor Children’s Perceptions of the Economic Situation in their Home Influenced by their Neighborhood?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(1), pages 291-305, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9445-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9445-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Chaoxin Jiang & Qiang Ren & Shan Jiang & Lin Wang & Lei Dong & Mingwei Wang, 2021. "Association Between Objective and Subjective Deprivation and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Chinese Adolescents: Hope as a Moderator," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(6), pages 2417-2432, December.

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