The Effects of Informal Neighborhood Bonding Social Capital and Neighborhood Context on Homeownership for Families Living in Poverty

ABSTRACT:

The concept of social capital has been embedded ubiquitously into the strategies and goals of community-based development programs for families living in low-income neighborhoods; yet, scholars continue to debate social capital’s empirical support. The present study defines a specific type of social capital—informal neighborhood bonding social capital—and tests its relationship with homeownership while controlling for effects of neighborhood context. Findings reveal informal neighborhood bonding social capital is associated with homeownership above and beyond the effects of neighborhood context. Findings are discussed in relation to future research and the implications for community-based practitioners working with families in low-income neighborhoods.

Notes

1 For more information on Making Connections and the Making Connections survey visit the AECF website at aecf.org.

2 The five indicators, with weights in brackets, are: (1) I live in a close-knit neighborhood (1.00), (2) People in my neighborhood are willing to help their neighbors (2.01), (3) People in my neighborhood generally do not get along with each other (0.67), (4) people in my neighborhood do not share the same values (0.53), (5) People in my neighborhood can be trusted (1.06).

3 Considering a Bernoulli distribution is used in the analysis, the ICC is calculated as ϱ_I=τ²₀/(τ²₀+Π²/3) (Snijders & Boskers, 1999).

4 The items used to measure bonding social capital were originally developed by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. See Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997) for more information on these items.

5 Social Cohesion indicators 3 and 4 are reverse scored in all analyses.