IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v25y2024i3d10.1007_s10902-024-00740-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Better to Grow Up Poor in a Richer Place? Social Housing, Neighbourhood Comparisons, and English Teenagers’ Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Franco Bonomi Bezzo

    (La Statale, University of Milan
    Institut National d’études Démographiques
    University of Cape Town)

  • Pieter Vanhuysse

    (University of Southern Denmark
    University of Southern Denmark)

Abstract

How does being comparatively socio-economically disadvantaged within their neighbourhood affect the lived experiences of young teenagers? We explore this question on a sample of 13 to 15-year-old teenagers living in social housing in England. We explore three major domains of young teenagers’ well-being: (a) their sense of generally leading a bad life, (b) conflictual family interactions, and (c) unhappy social interactions with their peers. We find that living in a social housing estate within a less deprived neighbourhood does not negatively affect teenagers’ general sense of leading a bad life and does not increase conflictual family interactions. But it does make them less likely to report unhappy social interactions with their peers, indicating a positive effect of social mixing at the neighbourhood level.

Suggested Citation

  • Franco Bonomi Bezzo & Pieter Vanhuysse, 2024. "Better to Grow Up Poor in a Richer Place? Social Housing, Neighbourhood Comparisons, and English Teenagers’ Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:25:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00740-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-024-00740-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-024-00740-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-024-00740-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren, 2018. "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility I: Childhood Exposure Effects," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1107-1162.
    2. Gundi Knies & Patricia C Melo & Min Zhang, 2021. "Neighbourhood deprivation, life satisfaction and earnings: Comparative analyses of neighbourhood effects at bespoke scales," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2640-2659, October.
    3. Nieuwenhuis, Jaap & van Ham, Maarten & Yu, Rongqin & Branje, Susan & Meeus, Wim & Hooimeijer, Pieter, 2016. "Being Poorer than the Rest of the Neighbourhood: Relative Deprivation and Problem Behaviour of Youth," IZA Discussion Papers 10220, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Leventhal, T. & Brooks-Gunn, J., 2003. "Moving to Oppurtunity: An Experimental Study of Neighborhood Effects on Mental Health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1576-1582.
    5. Jarjoura, G. Roger & Triplett, Ruth, 1997. "The effects of social area characteristics on the relationship between social class and delinquency," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 125-139.
    6. Kessler, Ronald & Duncan, Greg J. & Gennetian, Lisa A. & Katz, Lawrence F. & Kling, Jeffrey R. & Sampson, Nancy A. & Sanbonmatsu, Lisa & Zaslavsky, Alan M. & Ludwig, Jens, 2014. "Associations of Housing Mobility Interventions for Children in High-Poverty Neighborhoods With Subsequent Mental Disorders During Adolescence," Scholarly Articles 34309063, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    7. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(4), pages 855-902, April.
    8. Jonathan J. B. Mijs & Jaap Nieuwenhuis, 2022. "Adolescents' future in the balance of family, school, and the neighborhood: A multidimensional application of two theoretical perspectives," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(3), pages 534-549, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bence Boje-Kovacs & Jane Greve & Cecilie D. Weatherall, 2023. "Neighborhoods and mental health—evidence from a natural experiment in the public social housing sector," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 911-934, April.
    2. Kleinepier, Tom & van Ham, Maarten, 2018. "The Temporal Dynamics of Neighborhood Disadvantage in Childhood and Subsequent Problem Behavior in Adolescence," IZA Discussion Papers 11397, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Haley McAvay, 2020. "Socioeconomic status and long-term exposure to disadvantaged neighbourhoods in France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(13), pages 2663-2680, October.
    4. Overman, Henry G. & Xu, Xiaowei, 2024. "Spatial disparities across labour markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121453, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Francesco Andreoli & Eugenio Peluso, 2016. "So close yet so unequal: Reconsidering spatial inequality in U.S. cities," Working Papers 21/2016, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    6. Michael Geruso & Timothy J. Layton & Jacob Wallace, 2023. "What Difference Does a Health Plan Make? Evidence from Random Plan Assignment in Medicaid," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 341-379, July.
    7. Alex Bell & Raj Chetty & Xavier Jaravel & Neviana Petkova & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 647-713.
    8. Chong Lu, 2022. "The effect of migration on rural residents’ intergenerational subjective social status mobility in China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3279-3308, October.
    9. John Gathergood & Fabian Gunzinger & Benedict Guttman-Kenney & Edika Quispe-Torreblanca & Neil Stewart, 2020. "Levelling Down and the COVID-19 Lockdowns: Uneven Regional Recovery in UK Consumer Spending," Papers 2012.09336, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2020.
    10. Michael J. Kottelenberg & Steven F. Lehrer, 2019. "How Skills and Parental Valuation of Education Influence Human Capital Acquisition and Early Labor Market Return to Human Capital in Canada," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 735-778.
    11. Matthias Doepke & Giuseppe Sorrenti & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2019. "The Economics of Parenting," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 55-84, August.
    12. Luís Clemente-Casinhas & Luís Filipe Martins & Alexandra Ferreira-Lopes, 2025. "Using Survey Data to Estimate Intergenerational Mobility in Income and Education in Portugal," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 51-106, January.
    13. Fred Wulczyn & Xiaomeng Zhou & Jamie McClanahan & Scott Huhr & Kristen Hislop & Forrest Moore & Emily Rhodes, 2023. "Race, Poverty, and Foster Care Placement in the United States: Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-19, August.
    14. Baum-Snow, Nathaniel & Hartley, Daniel, 2020. "Accounting for central neighborhood change, 1980–2010," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    15. González-Jiménez, Víctor, 2022. "Social status and motivated beliefs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    16. John A. List & Fatemeh Momeni & Yves Zenou, 2020. "The Social Side of Early Human Capital Formation: Using a Field Experiment to Estimate the Causal Impact of Neighborhoods," Working Papers 2020-187, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    17. Suzane Bellue, 2023. "Why Don’t Poor Families Move? A Spatial Equilibirum Analysis of Parental Decisions with Social Learning," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_472, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    18. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Marc Piopiunik & Ludger Woessmann, 2022. "Growing up in ethnic enclaves: language proficiency and educational attainment of immigrant children," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 1297-1344, July.
    19. George Bulman & Robert Fairlie & Sarena Goodman & Adam Isen, 2021. "Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(4), pages 1201-1240, April.
    20. Peter Hull & Michal Kolesár & Christopher Walters, 2022. "Labor by design: contributions of David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(3), pages 603-645, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:25:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-024-00740-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.